UPHILL 
CLIMB 


B.MJBOWER 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 
DAVID  L.  WILT 


THE  UPHILL  CLIMB 


■ 


^^^WOT 


"  Bell  o,  Ford,  where  the  blazes  ili<l  you  drop  down  from  ? "  a  welcoming 
voice  yelled.     Frontispiece.     See  PagedO, 


THE  UPHILL  CLIMB 


BY 

B.  M.  BOWER 

AUTHOR  OF 

GOOD  INDIAN, 

CHIP,  OF  THE  FLYING  U,  ETC. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

CHARLES  M.  RUSSELL 


NEW      YORK 

GROSSET    &    DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1913, 
By  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published,  April,  1913 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAG  B 

I     "  Married  !  And  I  Don't  Know  Her 

Name  ! "                                       w       i.  1 

II     Wanted:  Information        .        ,.         .  28 

III  One  Way  to  Drown  Sorrow     .        ..  40 

IV  Reaction 57 

V     "I  Can  Spare  this  Particular  Girl  "  69 

VI     The    Problem    of    Getting    Some- 
where      ......  89 

VII     TnE  Foreman  of  the  Double  Cross  96 

VIII     "  I  Wish  You  'd  Quit  Believing  in 

Me!" 112 

IX     Impressions 129 

X     In  Which  the  Demon  Opens  an  Eye 

and  Yawns         .        .         .  146 

XI     "  It  's     Going    to     Be    an     Uphill 

Climb!"              161 

XII     At  Hand-Grips  with  the  Demon     .  182 

XIII  A  Plan  Gone  Wrong          .        .        .  203 

XIV  The  Feminine  Point  of  View  .         .216 
XV     The  Climb 229 

XVI     To  Find  and  Free  a  Wife  .        .         .  257 

XVII     What  Ford  Found  at  the  Top        .  274 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


"  Hell-o,  Ford,  where  the  blazes  did  you  drop 

down  from  ?  "  a  welcoming  voice  yelled  Frontispiece 

She  lifted  her  head  and  looked  at  him,  and  drew 

away page    74 

Dick  tottered  upon  the  step  and  went  off  back- 
ward     "209 

"  Ford,  I  'm  no   coquette,"  she   said   straight- 
forwardly      "254 


The  Uphill  Climb 

CHAPTEE  I 

"  MARRIED  !    AND    I    DON'T  KNOW   HER    NAME  !  " 

FORD  lifted  his  arms  above  his  head  to  yawn 
as  does  a  man  who  has  slept  too  heavily,  found 
his  biceps  stiffened  and  sore,  and  massaged  them  gin- 
gerly with  his  finger-tips.  His  eyes  took  on  the 
vacancy  of  memory  straining  at  the  leash  of  forget- 
fulness.  He  sighed  largely,  swung  his  head  slowly 
from  left  to  right  in  mute  admission  of  failure  to 
grasp  what  lay  just  behind  his  slumber,  and  thereby 
discovered  other  muscles  that  protested  against 
sudden  movement.  He  felt  his  neck  with  a  careful, 
rubbing  gesture.  One  hand  strayed  to  his  left  cheek- 
bone, hovered  there  tentatively,  wandered  to  the 
bridge  of  his  nose,  and  from  there  dropped  inertly 
to  the  bed. 

"  Lordy  me !    I  must  have  been  drunk  last  night," 


2  THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

lie  said  aloud,  mechanically  taking  the  straight  line 
of  logic  from  effect  to  cause,  as  much  experience  had 
taught  him  to  do. 

"  You  was  —  and  then  some,"  replied  an  unemo- 
tional voice  from  somewhere  behind  him. 

"  Oh !  That  you,  Sandy  ?  "  Ford  lay  quiet,  try- 
ing to  remember.  His  finger-tips  explored  the  right 
side  of  his  face;  now  and  then  he  winced  under 
their  touch,  light  as  it  was. 

"  I  must  have  carried  an  awful  load,"  he  de- 
cided, again  unerringly  taking  the  backward  trail 
from  effect  to  cause.  Later,  logic  carried  him  far- 
ther.    "  Who  'd  I  lick,  Sandy  ?  " 

"  Several."  The  unseen  Sandy  gave  one  the  im- 
pression of  a  man  smoking  and  speaking  between 
puffs.  "  Can't  say  just  who  —  you  did  start  in  on. 
You  wound  up  on  —  the  preacher." 

"  Preacher  ?  "  Ford's  tone  matched  the  flicker  of 
interest  in  his  eyes. 

"  Uhn-hunh." 

Ford  meditated  a  moment.  "  I  don't  recollect  ever 
licking  a  preacher  before,"  he  observed  curiously. 


"MARRIED!"  3 

Life,  stale  and  drab  since  his  eyes  opened,  gathered 
to  itself  the  pale  glow  of  awakening  interest.  Ford 
rose  painfully,  inch  by  inch,  until  he  was  sitting  upon 
the  side  of  the  bed,  got  from  there  to  his  feet,  looked 
down  and  saw  that  he  was  clothed  to  his  boots,  and 
crossed  slowly  to  where  a  cheap,  flyspecked  looking- 
glass  hung  awry  upon  the  wall.  His  self-inspection 
was  grave  and  minute.  His  eyes  held  the  philosophic 
calm  of  accustomedness. 

"  Who  put  this  head  on  me,  Sandy  ? "  he  in- 
quired apathetically.    "  The  preacher?  " 

'Id'  know.  You  had  it  when  you  come  up  onta 
the  heap.  You  licked  the  preacher  afterwards,  I 
think." 

Sandy  was  reading  a  ragged-backed  novel  while  he 
smoked;  his  interest  in  Ford  and  Ford's  battered 
countenance  was  plainly  perfunctory. 

Outside,  the  rain  fell  aslant  in  the  wind  and 
drummed  dismally  upon  the  little  window  beside 
Sandy.  It  beat  upon  the  door  and  trickled  under- 
neath in  a  thin  rivulet  to  a  shallow  puddle,  formed 
where  the  floor  was  sunken.     A  dank  warmth  and 


4  THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

the  smell  of  wet  wood  heating  to  the  blazing  point 
pervaded  the  room  and  mingled  with  the  coarse  aroma 
of  cheap,  warmed-over  coffee. 

"  Sandy!" 

"Hunt?" 

"  Did  anybody  get  married  last  night  ? "  The 
leash  of  forgetfulness  was  snapping,  strand  by  strand. 
Troubled  remembrance  peered  out  from  behind  the 
philosophic  calm  in  Ford's  eyes. 

"  Unh-hunh."  Sandy  turned  a  leaf  and  at  the 
same  time  flicked  the  ashes  from  his  cigarette  with 
a  mechanical  finger  movement.  "  You  did."  He 
looked  briefly  up  from  the  page.  "  That 's  why  you 
licked  the  preacher,"  he  assisted,  and  went  back  to 
his  reading. 

A  subdued  rumble  of  mid-autumn  thunder  jarred 
sullenly  overhead.  Ford  ceased  caressing  the  purple 
half-moon  which  inclosed  his  left  eye  and  began 
moodily  straightening  his  tie. 

"Now  what'n  hell  did  I  do  that  for?"  he  in- 
quired complainingly. 

"  Search  me,"  mumbled  Sandy  over  his  book.    He 


"MARRIED!"  5 

read  half  a  page  farther.  "  Do  what  for  ? "  he 
asked,  with  belated  attention. 

Ford  swore  and  went  over  and  lifted  the  coffee- 
pot from  the  stove,  shook  it,  looked  in,  and  made 
a  grimace  of  disgust  as  the  steam  smote  him  in  the 
face.  "  Paugh !  "  He  set  down  the  pot  and  turned 
upon  Sandy. 

"  Get  your  nose  out  of  that  book  a  minute  and 
talk !  "  he  commanded  in  a  tone  beseeching  for  all 
its  surly  growl.  "  You  say  I  got  married.  I  kinda 
recollect  something  of  the  kind.  What  I  want  to 
know  is  who  's  the  lady  ?  And  what  did  I  do  it 
for  ?  "  He  sat  down,  leaned  his  bruised  head  upon 
his  palms,  and  spat  morosely  into  the  stove-hearth. 
"  Lordy  me,"  he  grumbled.  "  I  don't  know  any  lady 
well  enough  to  marry  her  —  and  I  sure  can't  think 
of  any  female  lady  that  would  marry  me  —  not  even 
by  proxy !  " 

Sandy  closed  the  book  upon  a  forefinger  and  re- 
garded Ford  with  that  blend  of  pity,  amusement,  and 
tolerance  which  is  so  absolutely  unbearable  to  one 
who  has  behaved  foolishly  and  knows  it.    Ford  would 


6  THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

not  have  borne  the  look  if  he  had  seen  it;  but  he 
was  caressing  a  bruise  on  the  point  of  his  jaw  and 
staring  dejectedly  into  the  meager  blaze  which 
rimmed  the  lower  edge  of  the  stove's  front  door,  and 
so  remained  unconscious  of  his  companion's  im- 
pertinence. 

"  Who  was  the  lady,  Sandy  ?  "  he  begged  dispirit- 
edly, after  a  silence. 

"  Search  me,"  Sandy  replied  again  succinctly. 
"  Some  stranger  that  blew  in  here  with  a  license  and 
the  preacher  and  said  you  was  her  fee-ancy."  (Sandy 
read  romances,  mostly,  and  permitted  his  vocabulary 
to  profit  thereby.)  "  You  never  denied  it,  even  when 
she  said  your  name  was  a  nomdy  gair;  and  you  let 
her  marry  you,  all  right." 

"  Are  you  sure  of  that  ? "  Ford  looked  up  from 
under  lowering  eyebrows. 

"  Unh-hunh  —  that 's  what  you  done,  all  right." 
Sandy's  voice  was  dishearteningly  positive. 

"  Lordy  me !  "  gasped  Ford  under  his  breath. 

There  was  a  silence  which  slid  Sandy's  interest 
back  into  his  book.    He  turned  a  leaf  and  was  half- 


i  i 


MARRIED!"  7 

way  down  the  page  before  he  was  interrupted  by  more 
questions. 

"  Say !  Where  's  she  at  now  ?  "  Ford  spoke  with 
a  certain  furtive  lowering  of  his  voice. 

"  I  d'  know."  Sandy  read  a  line  with  greedy  in- 
terest. "  She  took  the  'leven-twenty,"  he  added  then. 
Another  mental  lapse.  "  You  seen  her  to  the  train 
yourself." 

"  The  hell  I  did !  "  Ford's  good  eye  glared  in- 
credulity, but  Sandy  was  again  following  hungrily 
the  love-tangle  of  an  unpronounceable  count  in  the 
depths  of  the  Black  Forest,  and  he  remained  per- 
fectly unconscious  of  the  look  and  the  mental  dis- 
tress which  caused  it.  Ford  went  back  to  studying 
the  meager  blaze  and  trying  to  remember.  He  might 
be  able  to  extract  the  whole  truth  from  Sandy,  but 
that  would  involve  taking  his  novel  away  from  him 
—  by  force,  probably ;  and  the  loss  of  the  book  would 
be  very  likely  to  turn  Sandy  so  sullen  that,  he  would 
refuse  to  answer,  or  to  tell  the  truth,  at  any  rate; 
and  Ford's  muscles  were  very,  very  sore.  He  did 
not  feel  equal  to  a  scuffle  with  Sandy,  just  then.    He 


8         THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

repeated  something  which  sounded  like  an  impromptu 
litany  and  had  to  do  with  the  ultimate  disposal  of 
his  own  soul. 

"  Hunh  ?  "  asked  Sandy. 

Whereupon  Ford,  being  harassed  mentally  and 
in  great  physical  discomfort  as  well,  specifically  dis- 
posed of  Sandy's  immortal  soul  also. 

Sandy  merely  grinned  at  him.  "  You  don't  want 
to  take  it  to  heart  like  that,"  he  remonstrated  cheer- 
fully. 

Ford,  by  way  of  reply,  painstakingly  analyzed  the 
chief  deficiencies  of  Sandy's  immediate  relatives,  and 
was  beginning  upon  his  grandparents  when  Sandy 
reached  barren  ground  in  the  shape  of  three  long 
paragraphs  of  snow,  cold,  and  sunrise  artistically 
blended  with  prismatic  adjectives.  He  waded 
through  the  first  paragraph  and  well  into  the  second 
before  he  mired  in  a  hopeless  jumble  of  unfamiliar 
polysyllables.  Sandy  was  not  the  skipping  kind ;  he 
threw  the  book  upon  a  bench  and  gave  his  attention 
wholly  to  his  companion  in  time  to  save  his  great- 
grandfather from  utter  condemnation. 


"MARRIED!"  9 

"  What 's  eating  you,  Ford  ? "  he  began  pacifically 
—  for  Sandy  was  a  weakling.  "  You  might  be  a  lot 
worse  off.  You  're  married,  all  right  enough,  from 
all  I  c'n  hear  —  but  she 's  left  town.  It  ain't  as  if 
you  had  to  live  with  her." 

Ford  looked  at  him  a  minute  and  groaned  dis- 
mally. 

"  Oh,  I  ain't  meaning  anything  against  the  lady 
herself,"  Sandy  hastened  to  assure  him.  "  Far  as 
I  know,  she  's  all  right  —  " 

"  What  I  want  to  know,"  Ford  broke  in,  impa- 
tient of  condolence  when  he  needed  facts,  "  is, 
who  is  she?  And  what  did  I  go  and  marry  her 
for?" 

b  Well,  you  '11  have  to  ask  somebody  that  knows. 
I  never  seen  her,  myself,  except  when  you  was  leadin' 
her  down  to  the  depot,  and  you  and  her  talked  it 
over  private  like  —  the  way  I  heard  it.  I  was  git- 
ting  a  hair-cut  and  shampoo  at  the  time.  First  I 
heard,  you  was  married.  I  should  think  you  'd  re- 
member it  yourself."  Sandy  looked  at  Ford  curi- 
ously. 


10        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  I  kinda  remember  standing  up  and  holding  Lands 
with  some  woman  and  somebody  saying:  'I  now 
pronounce  you  man  and  wife,'  "  Ford  confessed  mis- 
erably, his  face  in  his  hands  again.  "  I  guess  I  must 
have  done  it,  all  right." 

Sandy  was  kind  enough  when  not  otherwise  en- 
gaged. He  got  up  and  put  a  basin  of  water  on  the 
stove  to  warm,  that  Ford  might  bathe  his  hurts,  and 
he  made  him  a  very  creditable  drink  with  lemon  and 
whisky  and  not  too  much  water. 

"  The  way  I  heard  it,"  he  explained  further, 
"  this  lady  come  to  town  looking  for  Frank  Ford 
Cameron,  and  seen  you,  and  said  you  was  him. 
So—" 

"  I  ain't,"  Ford  interrupted  indignantly.  "  My 
name  's  Ford  Campbell  and  I  '11  lick  any  darned  son- 
of-a-gun  —  " 

"  Likely   she   made   a   mistake,"    Sandy   soothed.  , 
"  Frank  Ford  Cameron  she  had  you  down  for,  and 
you  went  ahead  and  married  her  willing  enough. 
Seems  like  there  was  some  hurry-up  reason  that  she 
explained  to  you  private.     She  had  the  license  all 


(  < 


MARRIED!"  11 


made  out  and  brought  a  preacher  down  from  Garbin. 
Bill  Wright  said  he  overheard  you  tellin'  her  you  'd 
do  anything  to  oblige  a  lady  —  " 

"  That's  the  worst  of  it;  I  'in  always  too  damned 
polite  when  I  'm  drunk !  "  grumbled  Ford. 

Sandy,  looking  upon  his  bruised  and  distorted 
countenance  and  recalling,  perhaps,  the  process  by 
which  Ford  reached  that  lamentable  condition,  made 
a  sound  like  a  diplomatically  disguised  laugh.  "  Not 
always,"  he  qualified  mildly. 

"  Anyway,"  he  went  on,  "  you  sure  married  her. 
That 's  straight  goods.  Bill  Wright  and  Bock  was 
the  witnesses.  And  if  you  don't  know  why  you 
done  it  —  ';  Sandy  waved  his  hands  to  indicate  his 
inability  to  enlighten  Ford.  "  Bight  afterwards  you 
went  out  to  the  bar  and  had  another  drink  —  all 
this  takin'  place  in  the  hotel  dining-room,  and 
Mother  McGrew  down  with  neuralagy  and  not  bein' 
present  —  and  one  drink  l^ads  to  another,  you  know. 
I  come  in  then,  and  the  bunch  was  drinkin'  luck  to 
you  fast  as  Sam  could  push  the  bottles  along.  Then 
you  went  back  to  the  lady  —  and  if  you  don't  know 


12        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

what  took  place  you  can  search  me  —  and  pretty 
soon  Bill  said  you  'd  took  her  and  her  grip  to  the 
depot.  Anyway,  when  you  come  back,  you  was  n't 
troubled  with  no  attack  of  politeness ! 

"  You  went  in  the  air  with  Bill,  first,"  continued 
Sanely,  testing  with  his  finger  the  temperature  of  the 
watc  r  in  the  basin,  "  and  bawled  him  out  something 
fierce  for  standing  by  and  seeing  you  make  a  break 
like  that  without  doing  something.  You  licked  him 
—  and  then  Bock  bought  in  because  some  of  your 
rev;  i  arks  kinda  included  him  too.  I  d'  know,"  said 
Sandy,  scratching  his  unshaven  jaw  reflectively, 
"  jn  t  how  the  fight  did  go  between  you  'n'  Rock. 
You  was  both  using  the  whole  room,  I  know.  Near 
as  I  could  make  out,  you  —  or  maybe  it  was  Bock  — 
tromped  on  Big  Jim's  bunion.  This  cold  spell's  hard 
on  bunions  —  and  Big  Jim  went  after  you  both  wi  th 
blood  in  his  eye. 

"  After  that  "  —  Sandy^spread  his  arms  largely  — 
"  it  was  go-as-you-please.  Sam  and  me  was  the  only 
ones  that  kept  out,  near  as  I  can  recollect,  and  when 
it  thinned  up  a  bit,  you  had  Aleck  down  and  was 


<  i 


MARRIED!"  13 


pounding  the  liver  outa  him,  and  Big  Jim  was 
whanging  away  at  you,  and  Rock  was  clawin'  Jim  in 
the  back  of  the  neck,  and  you  was  all  kickin'  like 
bay  steers  in  brandin'  time.  I  reached  in  under  the 
pile  and  dragged  you  out  by  one  leg  and  left  the  rest 
of  'em  fighting.  They  never  seemed  to  miss  you 
none."  He  grinned.  "  Jim  commenced  to  bump 
Aleck's  head  up  and  down  on  the  floor  instead  of 
you  —  and  I  knew  he  did  n't  have  nothing  against 
Aleck." 

"  Bill  —  " 

"  Bill,  he  'd  quit  right  in  the  start."  Sandy's 
grin  became  a  laugh.  "  Seems  like  pore  old  Bill 
always  gits  in  bad  when  you  commence  on  your  third 
pint.  You  was  n't  through,  though,  seems  like.  You 
was  going  to  start  in  at  the  beginning  and  en-core 
the  whole  performance,  and  you  started  out  after 
Bill.  Bill,  he  was  lookin'  for  a  hole  big  enough 
to  crawl  into  by  that  time.  But  you  run  into  the 
preacher.  And  you  licked  him  to  a  fare-you-well 
and  had  him  crying  real  tears  before  I  or  anybody 
else  could  stop  you." 


14        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"What'd  I  lick  him  for?"  Ford  inquired  in  a 
tone  of  deep  discouragement. 

Sandy's  indeterminate,  blue-gray  eyes  rounded 
with  puzzlement. 

"  Search  me,"  he  repeated  automatically.  But 
later  he  inadvertently  shed  enlightenment.  He 
laughed,  bending  double,  and  slapping  his  thigh  at 
the  irresistible  urge  of  a  mental  picture. 

"  Thought  I  'd  die,"  he  gasped.  "  Me  and  Sam 
was  watching  from  the  door.  You  had  the  preacher 
by  the  collar,  shakin'  him,  and  once  in  awhile  liftin' 
him  clean  off  the  ground  on  the  toe  of  your  boot; 
and  you  kept  saying :  '  A  sober  man,  and  a  preacher 
—  and  you  'd  marry  that  girl  to  a  fellow  like  me!  ' 
And  then  biff!  And  he'd  let  out  a  squawk.  'A 
drinkin',  fightin',  gamblin'  son-of-a-gun  like  me,  you 
swine ! '  you  'd  tell  him.  And  when  we  finally  pulled 
you  loose,  he  picked  up  his  hat  and  made  a  run 
for  it." 

Ford  meditated  gloomily.  "  I  '11  lick  him  again, 
and  lick  him  when  I'm  sober,  by  thunder!"  he 
promised  grimly.     "  Who  was  he,  do  you  know  ?  " 


"MARRIED!"  15 

"  No,  I  don't.  Little,  dried-up  geezer  with  a  nose 
like  a  kit-fox's  and  a  whine  to  his  voice.  He  won't 
come  around  here  no  more." 

The  door  opened  gustily  and  a  big  fellow  with  a 
skinned  nose  and  a  whimsical  pair  of  eyes  looked 
in,  hesitated  while  he  stared  hard  at  Ford,  and  then 
entered  and  shut  the  door  by  the  simple  method  of 
throwing  his  shoulders  back  against  it. 

"  Hello,  old  sport  —  how  you  comin'  ?  "  he  cried 
cheerfully.  "  Kinda  wet  for  makin'  calls,  but  when 
a  man's  loaded  down  with  a  guilty  conscience  — " 
He  sighed  somewhat  ostentatiously  and  pulled  for- 
ward a  chair  rejuvenated  with  baling-wire  braces 
between  the  legs,  and  a  cowhide  seat.  "  What  's  that 
cookin'  —  coffee,  or  sheep-dip  ?  "  he  inquired  face- 
tiously of  Sandy,  though  his  eyes  dwelt  solicitously 
upon  Ford's  bowed  head.  He  leaned  forward 
and  slapped  Ford  in  friendly  fashion  upon  the 
shoulder. 

i 

"  Buck  up  —  '  the  worst  is  yet  to  come,' :  he 
shouted,  and  laughed  with  an  exaggeration  of  cheer- 
fulness.    "  You  can't  ever  tell  when  death  or  matri- 


16       THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

mony's  goin'  to  get  a  man.     By  hokey,  seems  like 
there  's  no  dodgin'  either  one." 

Ford  lifted  a  bloodshot  eve  to  the  other.     "  And 
-  I   always  counted  you  for  a  friend,  Bill,"  he   re- 
proached heavily.     "  Sandy  says  I  licked  you  good 
and  plenty.     Well,  looks  to  me  like  you  had  it  com- 
ing, all  right." 

"  Well  —  I  got  it,  did  n't  I  ?  "  snorted  Bill,  his 
hand  lifting  involuntarily  to  his  nose.  "  And  I  ain't 
bettering,  ami?"  His  mouth  took  an  abused,  down- 
ward droop.  "  I  ain't  holdin'  any  grudge,  am  I  ? 
Why,  Sandy  here  can  tell  you  that  I  held  one  side 
of  you  up  whilst  he  was  leadin'  the  other  side  of  you 
home !  And  I  am  sorry  I  stood  there  and  seen  you 
get  married  off  and  never  lifted  a  finger ;  I  'm  darned 
sorry.  I  shoulda  hollered  misdeal,  all  right.  I 
know  it  now."  He  pulled  remorsefully  at  his  wet 
mustache,  which  very  much  resembled  a  worn-out 
shaving  brush. 

Ford  straightened  up,  dropped  a  hand  upon  his 
thigh,  and  thereby  discovered  another  sore  spot, 
which  he  caressed  gently  with  his  palm. 


"MARRIED!"  17 

"  Say,  Bill,  you  were  there,  and  you  saw  her.  Ou 
the  square  now  —  what 's  she  like  1  And  what  made 
me  marry  her  ?  " 

Bill  pulled  so  hard  upon  his  mustache  that  his 
teeth  showed ;  his  breath  became  unpleasantly  audible 
with  the  stress  of  emotion.  "  So  help  me,  I  can't  tell 
you  what  she  's  like,  Ford,"  he  confessed.  "  I  don't 
remember  nothing  about  her  looks,  except  she  looked 
good  to  me,  and  I  never  seen  her  before,  and  her 
hair  was  n't  red  —  I  always  remember  red  hair  when 
I  see  it,  drunk  or  sober.  You  see,"  he  added  as  an 
extenuation,  "  I  was  pretty  well  jagged  myself.  I 
musta  been.  I  recollect  I  was  real  put  out  because 
my  name  was  n't  Frank  Ford  —  By  hokey  ! '  He 
laid  an  impressive  forefinger  upon  Ford's  knee  and 
tapped  several  times.  "  I  never  knew  your  name  was 
rightly  Frank  Ford  Cameron.     I  always  —  " 

"  It  ain't."  Ford  winced  and  drew  away  from  the 
tapping  process,  as  if  his  knee  also  was  sensitive  that 
morning. 

"  You  told  her  it  was.  I  mind  that  perfectly,  be- 
cause I  was  so  su'prised  I  swore  right  out  loud  and 


18        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

was  so  damned  ashamed  I  could  n't  apologize.  And 
say !  She  mnsta  been  a  real  lady  or  I  would  n't  uh 
felt  that  way  about  it !  "  Bill  glanced  triumphantly 
from  one  to  the  other.  "  Take  it  from  me,  you  mar- 
ried a  lady,  Ford.  Drunk  or  sober,  I  always  make 
it  a  point  to  speak  proper  before  the  ladies  —  t'other 
kind  don't  count  —  and  when  I  make  a  break,  you 
betcher  life  I  remember  it.  She  's  a  real  lady  —  I  'd 
swear  to  that  on  a  stack  uh  bibles  ten  feet  high ! ': 
He  settled  back  and  unbuttoned  his  steaming  coat 
with  the  air  of  a  man  who  has  established  beyond 
question  the  vital  point  of  an  argument. 

"  Did  I  tell  her  so  myself,  or  did  I  just  let  it  go 
that  way  ?  "  Ford,  as  his  brain  cleared,  stuck  close 
to  his  groping  for  the  essential  facts. 

"  Well,  now  —  I  ain't  dead  sure  as  to  that.  Maybe 
Rock  '11  remember.  Kinda  seems  to  me  now,  that 
she  asked  you  if  you  was  really  Frank  Ford  Cam- 
eron, and  you  said :  '  I  sure  am,'  or  something  like 
that.  The  preacher  'd  know,  maybe.  He  musta  been 
the  only  sober  one  in  the  bunch  —  except  the  girl. 
But  you  done  chased  him  off,  so  —  " 


"MARRIED!"  19 

"  Sandy,  I  wish  you  'd  go  hunt  Eock  up  and  tell 
him  I  want  to  see  him."  Ford  spoke  with  more  of 
his  natural  spirit  than  he  had  shown  since  waking. 

"  Kock  's  gone  on  out  to  Kiley's  camp,"  volun- 
teered Bill.  "  Left  this  morning,  before  the  rain 
started  in." 

"  What  was  her  name  —  do  you  know  ?  "  Ford 
went  back  to  the  mystery. 

"  Ida  —  or  was  it  Jenny  ?  Some  darned  name  —  I 
heard  it,  when  the  preacher  was  marrying  you."  Bill 
was  floundering  hopelessly  in  mental  fog,  but  he 
persisted.  "  And  I  seen  it  wrote  in  the  paper  I 
signed  my  name  to.  I  mind  she  rolled  up  the  paper 
afterwards  and  put  it  —  well,  I  dunno  where,  but 
she  took  it  away  with  her,  and  says  to  you :  '  That 's 
safe,  now  '  —  or  '  You  're  safe,'  or  '  I  'm  safe,'  — 
anyway,  some  darned  thing  was  safe.  And  I  was 
goin'  to  kiss  the  bride  —  mebbe  I  did  kiss  her  —  only 
I'd  likely  remember  it  if  I  had,  drunk  or  sober! 
And  —  oh,  now  I  got  it !  "  Bill's  voice  was  full  of 
elation.  "  You  was  goin'  to  kiss  the  bride  —  that 
was  it,  it  was  you  goin'  to  kiss  her,  and  she  slap  — 


20        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

no,  by  hokey,  she  did  n't  slap  you,  she  just  —  or 
was  it  Rock,  now  ?  "  Doubt  filled  his  eyes  distress- 
fully. "  Darn  my  everlastin'  hide,"  he  finished 
lamely,  "  there  was  some  kissin'  somew'ere  iu  the 
deal,  and  I  mind  her  cry  in'  afterwards,  but  whether 
it  was  about  that,  or  —  Say,  Sandy,  what  was  it 
Ford  was  lickin'  the  preacher  for  ?  Was  n't  it  for 
kissin'  the  bride  ?  " 

"  It  was  for  marrying  him  to  her,"  Sandy  in- 
formed him  sententiously. 

Ford  got  up  and  went  to  the  little  window  and 
looked  out.  Presently  he  came  back  to  the  stove  and 
stood  staring  disgustedly  down  upon  the  effusively 
friendly  Bill,  leering  up  at  him  pacifically. 

"  If  I  did  n't  feel  so  rotten,"  he  said  glumly,  "  I  \1 
give  you  another  licking  right  now,  Bill  —  you  booz- 
ing old  devil.  I  'd  like  to  lick  every  darned  galoot 
that  stood  back  and  let  me  in  for  this.  You  'd  oncrht 
to  have  stopped  me.  You  'd  oughta  pounded  the 
face  off  me  before  you  let  me  do  such  a  fool  thing. 
That,"  he  said  bitterly,  "  shows  how  much  a  man 
can  bank  on  his  friends !  " 


"MARRIED!"  21 

"  It  shows,"  snorted  Bill  indignantly,  "  how  much 
he  can  bank  on  himself !  " 

"  On  whisky,  to  let  him  in  for  all  kinds  uh 
trouble,"  revised  Sandy  virtuously.  Sandy  had  a 
stomach  which  invariably  rebelled  at  the  second  glass 
and  therefore,  remaining  always  sober  perforce,  he 
took  to  himself  great  credit  for  his  morality. 

"  Married !  —  and  I  don't  so  much  as  know  her 
name!  "  gritted  Ford,  and  went  over  and  laid  him- 
self down  upon  the  bed,  and  sulked  for  the  rest  of 
that  day  of  rain  and  gloom. 


CHAPTER  II 

wanted:  information 

SULKING  never  yet  solved  a  mystery  nor  will 
it  accomplish  much  toward  bettering  an  unpleas- 
ant situation.  After  a  day  of  unmitigated  gloom 
and  a  night  of  uneasy  dreams,  Ford  awoke  to  a 
white,  shifting  world  of  the  season's  first  blizzard,  and 
to  something  like  his  normal  outlook  upon  life. 

That  outlook  had  ever  been  cheerful,  with  the  cheer- 
fulness which  comes  of  taking  life  in  twenty-four- 
hour  doses  only,  and  of  looking  not  too  far  ahead 
and  backward  not  at  all.  Plenty  of  persons  live  after 
that  fashion  and  thereby  attain  middle  life  with 
smooth  foreheads  and  cheeks  unlined  by  thought; 
and  Ford  was  therefore  not  much  different  from  his 
fellows.  Never  before  had  he  found  himself  with 
anything  worse  than  bodily  bruises  to  sour  life  for 
him  after  a  tumultuous  night  or  two  in  town,  and  the 
sensation  of  a  discomfort  which  had  not  sprung  from 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     23 

some  well-defined  physical  sense  was  therefore  suf- 
ficiently novel  to  claim  all  his  attention. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  fought  and  for- 
i  gotten  it  afterwards.  Nor  was  it  a  new  experience 
for  him  to  seek  information  from  his  friends  after 
a  night  full  of  incident.  Sandy  he  had  always  found 
tolerably  reliable,  because  Sandy,  being  of  that  in- 
quisitive nature  so  common  to  small  persons,  made 
it  a  point  to  see  everything  there  was  to  be  seen; 
and  his  peculiar  digestive  organs  might  be  counted 
upon  to  keep  him  sober.  It  was  a  real  grievance  to 
Ford  that  Sandy  should  have  chosen  the  hour  he  did 
for  indulging  in  such  trivialities  as  hair-cuts  and 
shampoos,  while  events  of  real  importance  were  per- 
mitted to  transpire  unseen  and  unrecorded.  Ford, 
when  the  grievance  thrust  itself  keenly  upon  him, 
roused  the  recreant  Sandy  by  pitilessly  thrusting  an 
elbow  against  his  diaphragm. 

Sandy  grunted  at  the  impact  and  sat  bolt  upright 
in  bed  before  he  was  fairly  awake.  He  glanced  re- 
proachfully down  at  Ford,  who  stared  back  at  him 
from  a  badly  crumpled  pillow. 


24        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  Get  up,"  growled  Ford,  "  and  start  a  fire  going, 
darn  you.  You  kept  me  awake  half  the  night,  snor- 
ing. I  want  a  beefsteak  with  mushrooms,  devilled 
kidneys,  waffles  with  honey,  and  four  banana  fritters 
for  breakfast.  I  '11  take  it  in  bed ;  and  while  I  'm 
waiting,  you  can  bring  me  the  morning  paper  and 
a  package  of  Egyptian  Houris." 

Sandy  grunted  again,  slid  reluctantly  out  into  the 
bitterly  cold  room,  and  crept  shivering  into  his  clothes. 
He  never  quite  understood  Ford's  sense  of  humor,  at 
such  times,  but  he  had  learned  that  it  is  more  com- 
fortable to  crawl  out  of  bed  than  to  be  kicked  out, 
and  that  vituperation  is  a  mere  waste  of  time  when 
matched  against  sheer  heartlessness  and  a  superior 
muscular  development. 

"  Y'  ought  to  make  your  wife  build  the  fires,"  he 
taunted,  when  he  was  clothed  and  at  a  safe  distance 
from  the  bed.  He  ducked  instinctively  afterwards, 
but  Ford  was  merely  placing  a  match  by  itself  on 
the  bench  close  by. 

"  That 's  one,"  Ford  remarked  calmly.  "  I  'm  go- 
ing to  thrash  every  misguided  humorist  who  mentions 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     25 

that  subject  to  me  in  anything  but  a  helpful  spirit 
of  pure  friendship.  I  'm  going  to  give  him  a  separate 
licking  for  every  alleged  joke.  I  '11  want  two  steaks, 
Sandy.  I  '11  likely  have  to  give  you  about  seven 
distinct  wallopings.  Hand  me  some  more  matches  to 
keep  tally  with.  I  don't  want  to  cheat  you  out  of 
your  just  dues." 

Sandy  eyed  him  doubtfully  while  he  scraped  the 
ashes  from  the  grate. 

"  You  may  want  a  dozen  steaks,  but  that  ain't 
saying  you  're  going  to  git  'em,"  he  retorted,  with 
a  feeble  show  of  aggression.  "  And  's  far  as  licking 
me  goes  — "  He  stopped  to  blow  warmth  upon  his 
fingers,  which  were  numbed  with  their  grasp  of  the 
poker.  "  As  for  licking  me,  I  guess  you  '11  have  to 
do  that  on  the  strength  uh  bacon  and  sour-dough 
biscuits;  if  you  do  it  at  all,  which  I  claim  the  privi- 
lege uh  doubting  a  whole  lot." 

Ford  laughed  a  little  at  the  covert  challenge,  made 
ridiculous  by  Sandy's  diminutive  stature,  pulled  the 
blankets  up  to  his  eyes,  and  dozed  off  luxuriously ; 
and  although  it  is  extremely  tiresome  to  be  told  in 


26        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

detail  just  what  a  man  dreams  upon  certain  occa- 
sions, he  did  dream,  and  it  was  something  about  being 
married.  At  any  rate,  when  the  sizzling  of  bacon 
frying  invaded  even  his  slumber  and  woke  him,  he 
felt  a  distinct  pang  of  disappointment  that  it  was 
Sandy's  carroty  head  bent  over  the  frying-pan,  in- 
stead of  a  wife  with  blond  hair  which  waved  be- 
comingly upon  her  temples. 

"  Wonder  what  color  her  hair  is,  anyway,"  he  ob- 
served inadvertently,  before  he  was  wide  enough 
awake  to  put  the  seal  of  silence  on  his  musings. 

"Hunh?" 

"  I  asked  when  those  banana  fritters  are  coming 
up;"  lied  Ford,  getting  out  of  bed  and  yawning  so 
that  his  swollen  jaw  hurt  him,  and  relapsed  into  his 
u  1 1  ill  taciturnity,  which  was  his  wall  of  defense 
against  Sandy's  inquisitiveness. 

Tie  ate  his  breakfast  almost  in  silence,  astonishing 
Sandy  somewhat  by  not  complaining  of  the  excess  of 
soda  in  the  biscuits.  Ford  was  inclined  toward 
fastidiousness  when  he  was  sober  —  a  trait  which 
caused  men  to  suspect  him  of  descending  from  an 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     27 

upper  stratum  of  society;  though  just  when,  or  just 
where,  or  how  great  that  descent  had  been,  they  had 
no  means  of  finding  out.  Ford,  so  far  as  his  speech 
upon  the  subject  was  concerned,  had  no  existence 
previous  to  his  appearance  in  Montana,  five  or  six 
years  before;  but  he  bore  certain  earmarks  of  a 
higher  civilization  which,  in  Sandy's  mind,  rather 
concentrated  upon  a  pronounced  distaste  for  soda- 
yellowed  bread,  warmed-over  coffee,  and  scorched 
bacon.  That  he  swallowed  all  these  things  and 
seemed  not  to  notice  them,  struck  Sandy  as  being 
almost  as  remarkable  as  his  matrimonial  adventure. 

When  he  had  eaten,  Ford  buttoned  himself  into  his 
overcoat,  pulled  his  moleskin  cap  well  down,  and 
went  out  into  the  storm  without  a  word  to  Sandy, 
which  was  also  unusual ;  it  was  Ford's  custom  to  wash 
the  dishes,  because  he  objected  to  Sandy's  economy 
of  clean,  hot  water.  Sandy  flattened  his  nose  against 
the  window,  saw  that  Ford,  leaning  well  forward 
against  the  drive  of  the  wind,  was  battling  his  way 
toward  the  hotel,  and  guessed  shrewdly  that  he  would 
see  him  no  more  that  day. 


28        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  He  better  keep  sober  till  his  knuckles  git  well, 
anyway,"  he  mumbled  disapprovingly.  "  If  he  goes 
to  fighting,  the  shape  he  's  in  now  —  " 

Ford  had  no  intention  of  fighting.  He  went 
straight  up  to  the  bar,  it  is  true,  but  that  was  be- 
cause he  saw  that  Sam  was  at  that  moment  unoccu- 
pied, save  with  a  large  lump  of  gum.  Being  at  the 
bar,  he  drank  a  glass  of  whisky;  not  of  deliberate 
intent,  but  merely  from  force  of  habit.  Once  down, 
however,  the  familiar  glow  of  it  through  his  being 
was  exceedingly  grateful,  and  he  took  another  for 
good  measure. 

"  H'lo,  Ford,"  Sam  bethought  him  to  say,  after 
he  had  gravely  taken  mental  note  of  each  separate 
scar  of  battle,  and  had  shifted  his  cud  to  the  other 
side  of  his  mouth,  and  had  squeezed  it  meditatively 
between  his  teeth.    "  Feel  as  rocky  as  you  look  ?  " 

"  Possibly."  Ford's  eyes  forbade  further  person- 
alities. "I'm  out  after  information,  Sam,  and  if 
you  've  got  any  you  are  n't  using,  I  'd  advise  you  to 
pass  it  over;  I  can  use  a  lot,  this  morning.  "Were 
you  sober,  night  before  last  ? " 


\ 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     29 

Sam  chewed  solemnly  while  he  considered.  "  Tol- 
erable sober,  yes,"  he  decided  at  last.  "  Sober  enough 
to  tend  to  business ;  why  ?  " 

With  his  empty  glass  Ford  wrote  invisible  scrolls 
upon  the  bar.  "I  —  did  you  happen  to  see  —  my  — 
the  lady  I  married  ?  "  He  had  been  embarrassed  at 
first,  but  when  he  finished  he  was  glaring  a  challenge 
which  shifted  the  disquiet  to  Sam's  manner. 

"  No.  I  was  tendin'  bar  all  evenin'  —  and  she 
did  n't  come  in  here." 

Ford  glanced  behind  him  at  the  sound  of  the  door 
opening,  saw  that  it  was  only  Bill,  and  leaned  over 
the  bar  for  greater  secrecy,  lowering  his  voice  as  well. 

"  Did  you  happen  to  hear  who  she  was  ?  " 

Sam  stared  and  shook  his  head. 

"  Don't  you  know  anything  about  her  at  all  — 
where  she  came  from  —  and  why,  and  where  she 
went  ?  " 

Sam  backed  involuntarily.  Ford's  tone  made  it 
a  crime  either  to  know  these  things  or  to  be  guilty  of 
ignorance;  which,  Sam  could  not  determine.  Sam 
was  of  the  sleek,   oily-haired   type  of  young  men, 


30        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

with  pimples  and  pale  eyes  and  a  predilection  for 
gum  and  gossip.  Pie  was  afraid  of  Ford  and  he 
showed  it. 

"That's  just  what  (no  offense,  Ford  —  I  ain't 
responsible)  that 's  what  everybody 's  wondering. 
Xobody  seems  to  know.  They  kinda  hoped  you  'd 
explain  —  " 

"  Sure !  "  Ford's  tone  was  growing  extremely 
ominous.  "  I  '11  explain  a  lot  of  things  —  if  I  hear 
any  gabbling  going  on  about  my  affairs."  He  was 
seized  then  with  an  uncomfortable  feeling  that  the 
words  were  mere  puerile  blustering  and  turned  away 
from  the  bar  in  disgust. 

In  disgust  he  pulled  open  the  door,  flinched  before 
the  blast  of  wind  and  snow  which  smote  him  full  in 
the  face  and  blinded  him,  and  went  out  again  into 
the  storm.  The  hotel  porch  was  a  bleak  place,  with 
snow  six  inches  deep  and  icy  boards  upon  which  a 
man  might  easily  slip  and  break  a  bone  or  two,  and 
with  a  whine  overhead  as  the  wind  sucked  under  the 
roof.  Ford  stood  there  so  long  that  his  feet  began  to 
tingle.    He  was  not  thinking;  he  was  merely  feeling 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     31 

the  feeble  struggles  of  a  newborn  desire  to  be  some- 
thing and  do  something  worth  while  —  a  desire  which 
manifested  itself  chiefly  in  bitterness  against  himself 
as  he  was,  and  in  a  mental  nausea  against  the  life 
he  had  been  content  to  live. 

The  mystery  of  his  marriage  was  growing  from 
a  mere  untoward  incident  of  a  night's  carouse  into  a 
baffling  thing  which  hung  over  him  like  an  impending 
doom.  He  was  not  the  sort  of  man  who  marries 
easily.  It  seemed  incredible  that  he  could  really  have 
done  it;  more  incredible  that  he  could  have  done  it 
and  then  have  wiped  the  slate  of  his  memory  clean ; 
with  the  crowning  impossibility  that  a  strange  young 
woman  could  come  into  town,  marry  him,  and  after- 
ward depart  and  no  man  know  who  she  was,  whence 
she  had  come,  or  where  she  had  gone.  Ford  stepped 
suddenly  off  the  porch  and  bored  his  way  through 
the  blizzard  toward  the  depot.  The  station  ag 
would  be  able  to  answer  the  last  question,  at  any  rate. 

The  agent,  however,  proved  disappointingly  ig- 
norant of  the  matter.  He  reminded  Ford  that  there 
had  not  been  time  to  buy  a  ticket,  and  that  the  girl 


32        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

had  been  compelled  to  run  down  the  platform  to 
reach  the  train  before  it  started,  and  that  the  wheels 
began  to  turn  before  she  was  up  the  steps  of  the  day 
coach. 

"  And  don't  you  remember  turning  around  and 
saying  to  me :  'I  'm  a  poor  married  man,  but  you 
can't  notice  the  scar/  or  something  like  that? ':  The 
agent  was  plainly  interested  and  desirous  of  render- 
ing any  assistance  possible,  and  also  rather  diffident 
about  discussing  so  delicate  a  matter  with  a  man  like 
Ford. 

Ford  drummed  his  fingers  impatiently  upon  the 
shelf  outside  the  ticket  window.  "  I  don't  remember 
a  darned  thing  about  it,"  he  confessed  glumly.  "  I 
can't  say  I  enjoy  running  all  around  town  trying  to 
find  out  who  it  was  I  married,  and  why  I  married  her, 
and  where  she  went  afterwards,  but  that 's  just  the 
kind  a  fix  I  'm  in,  Lew.  I  don't  suppose  she  came 
here  and  did  it  just  for  fun  —  and  I  can't  figure 
out  any  other  reason,  unless  she  was  plumb  loco. 
From  all  I  can  gather,  she  was  a  nice  girl,  and  it 
seems  she  thought  I  was  Frank  Ford  Cameron  — 


WANTED:   INFORMATION     33 

which  I  am  not !  "  He  laughed,  as  a  man  will  laugh 
sometimes  when  he  is  neither  pleased  nor  amused. 

"  I  might  ask  McCreery  —  he  's  conductor  on 
Fourteen.  He  might  remember  where  she  wanted 
to  go,"  the  agent  suggested  hesitatingly.  "  And  say ! 
What 's  the  matter  with  goiug  up  to  Garbin  and  look- 
ing up  the  record  ?  She  had  to  get  the  license  there, 
and  they  'd  have  her  name,  age,  place  of  residence, 
and  —  and  whether  she 's  white  or  black."  The 
agent  smiled  uncertainly  over  his  feeble  attempt  at 
a  joke.  "  I  got  a  license  for  a  friend  once,"  he  ex- 
plained hastily,  when  he  saw  that  Ford's  face  did  not 
relax  a  muscle.  "  There  's  a  train  up  in  forty  min- 
utes —  " 

"  Sure,  I  '11  do  that."  Ford  brightened.  "  That 
must  be  what  I  've  been  trying  to  think  of  and 
could  n't.  I  knew  there  was  some  way  of  finding 
out.  Throw  me  a  round-trip  ticket,  Lew.  Lordy 
me !  I  can't  afford  to  let  a  real,  live  wife  slip  the 
halter  like  this  and  leave  me  stranded  and  not  know- 
ing a  thing  about  her.    How  much  is  it  ?  " 

The  agent  slid  a  dark  red  card  into  the  mouth  of 


34       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

his  office  stamp,  jerked  down  the  lever,  and  swung 
his  head  quickly  toward  the  sounder  chattering 
hysterically  behind  him.  His  jaw  slackened  as  he 
listened,  and  he  turned  his  eyes  vacantly  upon  Ford 
for  a  moment  before  he  looked  back  at  the  instrument. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  know  about  that  ?  "  he  queried, 
under  his  breath,  released  the  ticket  from  the  grip 
of  the  stamp,  and  flipped  it  into  the  drawer  beneath 
the  shelf  as  if  it  were  so  much  waste  paper. 

"  That 's  my  ticket,"  Ford  reminded  him  levelly. 

"  You  don't  want  it  now,  do  you  ?  "  The  agent 
grinned  at  him.  "Oh,  I  forgot  you  could  n't  read 
that."  He  tilted  his  head  back  toward  the  instru- 
ment. "  A  wire  just  went  through  —  the  court-house 
at  Garbin  caught  fire  in  the  basement  —  something 
about  the  furnace,  they  think  —  and  she 's  going 
up  in  smoke.  Hydrants  are  froze  up  so  they  can't 
get  water  on  it.  That  fixes  your  looking  up  the  rec- 
ord, Ford." 

Ford  stared  hard  at  him.  "  Well,  I  might  hunt  up 
the  proacher  and  ask  him,"  he  said,  his  tone  dropping 
again  to  dull  discouragement. 


WANTED:    INFORMATION     85 

The  agent  chuckled.  "  From  all  I  hear,"  he  ob- 
served rashly,  "  you  've  made  that  same  preacher 
mighty  hard  to  catch !  " 

Ford  drummed  upon  the  shelf  and  scowled  at  the 
smoke-blackened  window,  beyond  which  the  snow  was 
sweeping  aslant.  Upon  his  own  side  of  the  ticket 
window,  the  agent  pared  his  nails  with  his  pocket- 
knife  and  watched  him  furtively. 

"  Oh,  hell !  What  do  I  care,  anyway  ?  "  Revulsion 
seized  Ford  harshly.  "  I  guess  I  can  stand  it  if  she 
can.  She  came  here  and  married  me  —  it  is  n't  my 
funeral  any  more  than  it  is  hers.  If  she  wants  to/ 
be  so  darned  mysterious  about  it,  she  can  go  plumb 
—  to  —  ISTew  York !  "  There  were  a  few  decent 
traits  in  Ford  Campbell;  one  was  his  respect  for 
women,  a  respect  which  would  not  permit  him  to 
swear  about  this  wife  of  his,  however  exasperating 
her  behavior. 

"  That 's  the  sensible  way  to  look  at  it,  of  course," 
assented  the  agent,  who  made  it  a  point  to  agree 
alwavs  with  a  man  of  Ford's  size  and  caliber,  on  the 
theory  that  amiability  means  popularity,   and  that 


30       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

placation  is  better  than  plasters.  "  You  sure  ought 
to  let  her  do  the  hunting  —  and  the  worrying,  too. 
You  are  n't  to  blame  if  she  married  you  unawares. 
She  did  it  all  on  her  own  hook  —  and  she  must  have 
known  what  she  was  up  against." 

"No,  she  didn't,"  flared  Ford  unexpectedly. 
"  She  made  a  mistake,  and  I  wanted  to  point  it  out 
to  her  and  help  her  out  of*  it  if  I  could.  She  took 
me  for  some  one  else,  and  I  was  just  drunk  enough 
to  think  it  was  a  joke,  I  suppose,  and  let  it  go  that 
way.  I  don't  believe  she  found  out  she  tied  up  to 
the  wrong  man.  It 's  entirely  my  fault,  for  being 
drunk." 

"  Well,  putting  it  that  way,  you  're  right  about  it," 
agreed  the  adaptable  Lew.  "  Of  course,  if  you  had  n't 
been  —  " 

"  If  whisky  's  going  to  let  a  fellow  in  for  thi 
like  this,  it 's  time  to  cut  it  out  altogether."     Ford 
was  looking  at  the  agent  attentively. 

"  That 's  right,"  assented  the  other  unsuspecting! v. 
"  Whisky  is  sure  giving  you  the  worst  of  it  all  around. 
You  ought  to  climb  on  the  water-wagon,  Ford,  and 


WANTED:   INFORMATION      37 

that 's  a  fact.  Whisky  's  the  worst  enemy  you  've 
got." 

"  Sure.  And  I  'm  going  to  punish  all  of  it  I  can 
get  my  hands  on !  "  He  turned  toward  the  door. 
"  And  when  I  'm  good  and  full  of  it,"  he  added  as 
an  afterthought,  "  I  'm  liable  to  come  over  here  and 
lick  you,  Lew,  just  for  being  such  an  agreeable  cuss. 
You  better  leave  your  mother's  address  handy."  He 
laughed  a  little  to  himself  as  he  pulled  the  door  shut 
behind  him.  "  I  bet  he  '11  keep  the  frost  thawed  off 
the  window  to-day,  just  to  see  who  comes  up  the 
platform,"  he  chuckled. 

He  would  have  been  more  amused  if  he  had  seen 
how  the  agent  ducked  anxiously  forward  to  peer 
through  the  ticket  window  whenever  the  door  of  the 
waiting  room  opened,  and  how  he  started  whenever 
the  snow  outside  creaked  under  the  tread  of  a  heavy 
step ;  and  he  would  have  been  convulsed  with  mirth  if 
he  had  caught  sight  of  the  formidable  billet  of  wood 
which  Lew  kept  beside  his  chair  all  that  day,  and 
had  guessed  its  purpose,  and  that  it  was  a  mute  wit- 
ness to  the  reputation  which  one  Ford  Campbell  bore 


38       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

among  his  fellows.  Lew  was  too  wise  to  consider  for 
a  moment  the  revolver  meant  to  protect  the  contents 
of  the  safe.  Even  the  unintelligent  know  better  than 
to  throw  a  lighted  match  into  a  keg  of  gunpowder. 

Ford  leaned  backward  against  the  push  of  the 
storm  and  was  swept  up  to  the  hotel.  He  could  not 
remember  when  he  had  felt  so  completely  baffled ;  the 
incident  of  the  girl  and  the  ceremony  was  growing  to 
something  very  like  a  calamity,  and  the  mystery  which 
surrounded  it  began  to  fret  him  intolerably ;  and  the 
very  unusualness  of  a  trouble  he  could  not  settle  with 
his  fists  whipped  his  temper  to  the  point  of  explosion. 
He  caught  himself  wavering,  nevertheless,  before  the 
wind-swept  porch  of  the  hotel  "  office."  That,  too, 
was  strange.  Ford  was  not  wont  to  hesitate  before 
entering  a  saloon;  more  often  he  hesitated  about 
leaving. 

"  What 's  the  matter  with  me,  anyway  ?  "  he  ques- 
tioned himself  impatiently.  "  I  'm  acting  like  I 
had  n't  a  right  to  go  in  and  take  a  drink  when  I  feel 
like  it!  If  just  a  slight  touch  of  matrimony  acts 
like  that  with  a  man,  what  can  the  real  thing  be  like  ? 


WANTED:   INFORMATION      39 

I  always  heard  it  made  a  fool  of  a  fellow."  To 
prove  to  himself  that  he  was  still  untrammeled  and 
at  liberty  to  follow  his  own  desire,  he  stamped  across 
the  porch,  threw  open  the  door,  and  entered  with  a 
certain  defiance  of  manner. 

Behind  the  bar,  Sam  was  laughing  with  his  mouth 
wide  open  so  that  his  gum  showed  shamelessly.  Bill 
and  Aleck  and  Big  Jim  were  leaning  heavily  upon 
the  bar,  laughing  also. 

"  I  '11  bet  she  's  a  Heart-and-Hander,  tryin'  a  new 
scheme  to  git  a  man.  Think  uh  nabbing  a  man  when 
he  's  drunk.  That  's  a  new  one,"  Sam  brought  his 
lips  close  enough  together  to  declare,  and  chewed 
vigorously  upon  the  idea,  —  until  he  glanced  up  and 
saw  Ford  standing  by  the  door.  He  turned  abruptly, 
caught  up  a  towel,  and  began  polishing  the  bar  with 
the  frenzy  of  industry  which  never  imposes  upon  one 
in  the  slightest  degree. 

Bill  glanced  behind  him  and  nudged  Aleck  into 
caution,  and  in  the  silence  which  followed,  the  pop- 
ping of  a  piece  of  slate-veined  coal  in  the  stove 
sounded  like  a  volley  of  small-caliber  pistol  shots. 


CHAPTER  III 

ONE    WAY    TO    DROWN    SOREOW 

JH1  OED  walked  up  to  the  bar,  with  a  smile  upon 
-*-  his  face  which  Sam  misunderstood  and  so  met 
with  a  conciliatory  grin  and  a  hand  extended  toward 
a  certain  round,  ribbed  bottle  with  a  blue-and-silver 
label.  Ford  waved  away  the  bottle  and  leaned,  not 
on  the  bar  but  across  it,  and  clutching  Sam  by  the 
necktie,  slapped  him  first  upon  one  ear  and  next  upon 
the  other,  until  he  was  forced  by  the  tingling  of 
his  own  fingers  to  desist.  By  that  time  Sam's  green 
necktie  was  pulled  tight  just  under  his  nose,  and  he 
had  swallowed  his  gum  —  which,  considering  the  size 
of  the  lump,  was  likely  to  be  the  death  of  him. 

Ford  did  not  say  a  word.  He  permitted  Sam  to 
jerk  loose  and  back  into  a  corner,  and  he  watched  the 
swift  crimsoning  of  his  ears  with  a  keen  interest. 
Since  Sam's  face  had  the  pasty  pallor  of  the  badly 


TO  DROWN   SORROW        41 

scared,  the  ears  appeared  muck  redder  by  contrast 
than  they  really  were.  Next,  Ford  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  man  beside  him,  who  happened  to  be 
Bill.  For  one  long  minute  the  grim  spirit  of  war 
hovered  just  over  the  two. 

"  Aw,  forget  it,  Ford,"  Bill  urged  ingratiatingly 
at  last.  "  You  don't  want  to  lick  anybody  —  least 
of  all  old  Bill!  Look  at  them  knuckles!  You 
couldn't  thump  a  feather  bed.  Anyway,  you  got 
the  guilty  party  when  you  done  slapped  Sam  up  to 
a  peak  and  then  knocked  the  peak  off.  Made  him 
swaller  his  cud,  too,  by  hokey!  Say,  Sam,  my  old 
dad  used  to  feed  a  cow  on  bacon-rinds  when  she  done 
lost  her  cud.  You  try  it,  Sam.  Mebby  it  might  help 
them  ears !  Shove  that  there  trouble-killer  over  this 
way,  Sammy,  and  don't  look  so  fierce  at  your  uncle 
Bill ;  he  's  liable  to  turn  you  across  his  knee  and  dust 
your  pants  proper."  He  turned  again  to  Ford,  scowl- 
ing at  the  group  and  at  life  in  general,  while  the 
snow  melted  upon  his  broad  shoulders  and  trickled 
in  little,  hurrying  drops  down  to  the  nearest  jump- 
ing-off  place.    "  Come,  drownd  your  sorrcr,"  Bill  ad- 


42       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

vised  amiably.  "  Nobody  said  nothing  but  Sammy, 
and  I  '11  gamble  he  wishes  he  had  n't,  now."  If  his 
counsel  was  vicious,  his  smile  was  engaging  —  which 
does  not,  in  this  instance,  mean  that  it  was  beautiful. 
Ford's  fingers  closed  upon  the  bottle,  and  with 
reprehensible  thoroughness  he  proceeded  to  drown 
what  sorrows  he  then  possessed.  Unfortunately  he 
straightway  produced  a  fresh  supply,  after  his  usual 
method.  In  two  hours  he  was  flushed  and  argumenta- 
tive. In  three  he  had  whipped  Bill  —  cause  un- 
known to  the  chronicler,  and  somewhat  hazy  to  Ford 
also  after  it  was  all  over.  By  mid-afternoon  he  had 
Sammy  entrenched  in  the  tiny  stronghold  where  bar- 
reled liquors  were  kept,  and  scared  to  the  babbling 
stage.  Aleck  had  been  put  to  bed  with  a  gash  over 
his  right  eye  where  Ford  had  pointed  his  argument 
with  a  beer  glass,  and  Big  Jim  had  succumbed  to 
a  billiard  cue  directed  first  at  his  most  sensitive 
bunion  and  later  at  his  head.  Ford  was  not  using 
his  fists,  that  day,  because  even  in  his  whisky-brewed 
rage  he  remembered,  oddly  enough,  his  skinned 
knuckles. 


TO   DROWN    SORROW        48 

Others  had  come  —  in  fact,  the  entire  male  popu- 
lation of  Sunset  was  hovering  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  hotel  —  but  none  had  conquered. 
There  had  been  considerable  ducking  to  avoid  painful 
contact  with  flying  glasses  from  the  bar,  and  a  few 
had  retreated  in  search  of  bandages  and  liniment ;  the 
luckier  ones  remained  as  near  the  storm-center  as  was 
safe  and  expostulated.  To  those  Ford  had  but  one 
reply,  which  developed  into  a  sort  of  war-chant,  dis- 
couraging to  the  peace-loving  listeners. 

"  I  'm  a  rooting,  tooting,  shooting,  fighting  son-of-a- 
gun  —  and  a  good  one!"  Ford  would  declaim,  and 
with  deadly  intent  aim  a  lump  of  coal,  billiard  ball,  or 
glass  at  some  unfortunate  individual  in  his  audience. 
"  Hit  the  nigger  and  get  a  cigar!  You  're  just  hang- 
ing around  out  there  till  I  drink  myself  to  sleep  — 
but  I  'm  fooling  you  a  few !  I  'm  watching  the  clock 
with  one  eye,  and  I  take  my  dose  regular  and  not 
too  frequent.  I  'm  going  to  kill  off  a  few  of  these 
smart  boys  that  have  been  talking  about  me  and  my 
wife.  She 's  a  lady,  my  wife  is,  and  I  '11  kill  the  first 
man  that  says  she  isn't."      (One  cannot,  you  will 


44       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

understand,  be  too  explicit  in  a  case  like  this ;  not  one 
thousandth  part  as  explicit  as  Ford  was.) 

"  I  'm  going  to  begin  on  Sam,  pretty  quick,"  he 
called  through  the  open  door.  "  I  've  got  him  right 
where  I  want  him."  And  he  stated,  with  terrible  ex- 
actness, his  immediate  intentions  towards  the  bar- 
tender. 

Behind  his  barricade  of  barrels,  Sam  heard  and 
shivered  like  a  gun-shy  collie  at  a  turkey  shoot;  shiv- 
ered until  human  nerves  could  bear  no  more,  and 
like  the  collie  he  left  the  storeroom  and  fled  with  a 
yelp  of  sheer  terror.  Ford  turned  just  as  Sam  shot 
through  the  doorway  into  the  dining-room,  and  splin- 
tered a  beer  bottle  against  the  casing;  glanced  sol- 
emnly up  at  the  barroom  clock  and,  retreating  to  the 
nearly  denuded  bar,  gravely  poured  himself  another 
drink;  held  up  the  glass  to  the  dusk-filmed  window, 
squinted  through  it,  decided  that  he  needed  a  little 
more  than  that,  and  added  another  teaspoonful.  Then 
he  poured  the  contents  of  the  glass  down  his  throat 
as  if  it  were  so  much  water,  wiped  his  lips  upon  a  bar 
towel,  picked  a  handful  of  coal  from  the  depleted 


TO   DROWN    SORROW        45 

coal-hod,  went  to  the  door,  and  shouted  to  those  out- 
side to  produce  Sam,  that  he  might  be  killed  in  an 
extremely  unpleasant  manner. 

The  group  outside  withdrew  across  the  street  to 
grapple  with  the  problem  before  them.  It  was  obvi- 
ously impossible  for  civilized  men  to  sacrifice  Sam, 
even  if  they  could  catch  him  —  which  they  could  not. 
Sam  had  bolted  through  the  dining-room,  upset  the 
Chinaman  in  the  kitchen,  and  fallen  over  a  bucket 
of  ashes  in  the  coal-shed  in  his  flight  for  freedom. 
He  had  not  stopped  at  that,  but  had  scurried  off  up 
the  railroad  track.  The  general  opinion  among  the 
spectators  was  that  he  had,  by  this  time,  reached  the 
next  station  and  was  hiding  in  a  cellar  there. 

Bill  Wright  hysterically  insisted  that  it  was  up 
to  Tom  Aldershot,  who  was  a  deputy  town  marshal. 
Tom,  however,  was  working  on  the  house  he  hoped 
to  have  ready  for  his  prospective  bride  by  Thanks- 
giving, and  hated  to  be  interrupted  for  the  sake  of  a 
few  broken  heads  only. 

"  He  ain't  shooting  up  nobody,"  he  argued  from 
the  platform,  where  he  was  doing  "  inside  work  "  on 


46        THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

his  dining-room  while  the  storm  lasted.  "  He  never 
doe3  cut  loose  with  his  gun  when  he 's  drunk.  If 
I  arrested  him,  I  'd  have  to  take  him  clear  up  to 
Garbin  —  and  I  ain't  got  time.  And  it  would  n't  be 
nothin'  but  a  charge  uh  disturbin'  the  peace,  when 
I  got  him  there.  Y'  oughta  have  a  jail  in  Sunset,  like 
I  've  been  telling  yuh  right  along.  Can't  expect  a 
man  to  stop  his  work  just  to  take  a  man  to  jail  —  not 
for  anything  less  than  murder,  anyhow." 

Some  member  of  the  deputation  hinted  a  doubt  of 
his  courage,  and  Tom  flushed. 

"  I  ain't  scared  of  him,"  he  snorted  indignantly. 
"  I  should  say  not !  I  '11  go  over  and  make  him  be- 
have —  as  a  man  and  a  citizen.  But  I  ain't  going  to 
arrest  him  as  an  officer,  when  there  ain't  no  place 
to  put  him."  Tom  reluctantly  threw  down  his 
hammer,  grumbling  because  they  would  not  wait  till 
it  was  too  dark  to  drive  nails,  but  must  cut  short 
his  working  day,  and  went  over  to  the  hotel  to  quell 
Ford. 

Ingress  by  way  of  the  front  door  was  obviously  im- 
practicable; the  marshal  ducked  around  the  corner 


TO  DROWN    SORROW        47 

just  in  time  to  avoid  a  painful  meeting  with  a  bil- 
liard ball.  Mother  McGrew  had  piled  two  tables 
against  the  dining-room  door  and  braced  them  with 
the  mop,  and  stubbornly  refused  to  let  Tom  touch 
the  barricade  either  as  man  or  officer  of  the  law. 


"  Well,   if  I   can't  get   in,   I  can't   do  nothing 


n 


to) 


stated  Tom,  with  philosophic  calm. 

"  He  's  tearing  up  the  whole  place,  and  he  musta 
found  all  them  extra  billiard  balls  Mike  had  under 
the  bar,  and  is  throwin'  'em  away,"  wailed  Mrs. 
McGrew,  "  and  he  's  drinkin'  and  not  payin'.  The 
damage  that  man  is  doin'  it  would  take  a  year's 
profits  to  make  up.  You  gotta  do  something,  Tom 
Aldershot  —  you  that  calls  yourself  a  marshal,  swore 
to  pertect  the  citizens  uh  Sunset !  ISTo,  sir  —  I  ain't 
a-goin'  to  open  this  door,  neither.  I  'm  tryin'  to  save 
the  dishes,  if  you  want  to  know.  I  ain't  goin'  to 
let  my  cups  and  plates  foller  the  glasses  in  there. 
A  town  full  uh  men  —  and  you  stand  back  and  let 
one  crazy  —  " 

Tom  had  heard  Mrs.  McGrew  voice  her  opinion 
of  the  male  population  of  Sunset  on  certain  previous 


48       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

occasions.  He  left  her  at  that  point,  and  went  back 
to  the  group  across  the  street. 

At  length  Sandj,  whose  imagination  had  been  de- 
veloped somewhat  beyond  the  elementary  stage  by 
his  reading  of  romantic  fiction,  suggested  luring 
Ford  into  the  liquor  room  by  the  simple  method  of 
pretending  an  assault  upon  him  by  way  of  the  store- 
room window,  which  could  be  barred  from  without 
by  heavy  planks.  Secure  in  his  belief  in  Ford's 
friendship  for  him,  Sandy  even  volunteered  to  slam 
the  door  shut  upon  Ford  and  lock  it  with  the  padlock 
wrhich  guarded  the  room  from  robberv.  Tom  took 
a  chew  of  tobacco,  decided  that  the  ruse  might  work, 
and  donated  the  planks  for  the  window. 

It  did  work,  up  to  a  certain  point.  Ford  heard  a 
noise  in  the  storeroom  and  went  to  investigate,  caught 
a  glimpse  of  Tom  Aldershot  apparently  about  to 
climb  through  the  little  window,  and  hurled  a  ham- 
mer and  considerable  vituperation  at  the  opening. 
Whereupon  Sandy  scuttled  in  and  slammed  the  door, 
according  to  his  own  plan,  and  locked  it.  There 
was   a  season  of  frenzied  hammering  outside,  and 


TO   DROWN    SORROW        49 

after  that  Sunset  breathed  freer,  and  discussed  the 
evils  of  strong  drink,  and  washed  down  their  argu- 
ments by  copious  draughts  of  the  stuff  they  maligned. 

Later,  they  had  to  take  him  out  of  the  storeroom, 
because  he  insisted  upon  knocking  the  bungs  out  of 
all  the  barrels  and  letting  the  liquor  flood  the  floor, 
and  Mike  McGrew's  wife  objected  to  the  waste,  on 
the  ground  that  whisky  costs  money.  They  fell  upon 
him  in  a  body,  bundled  him  up,  hustled  him  over 
to  the  ice-house,  and  shut  him  in ;  and  within  ten 
minutes  he  kicked  three  boards  off  one  side  and 
emerged  breathing  fire  and  brimstone  like  the 
dragons  of  old.  He  had  forgotten  about  wanting  to 
kill  Sam  ;  he  was  willing  —  nay,  anxious  —  to  mur- 
der every  male  human  in  Sunset. 

Thev  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  him  after 
that.  They  liked  Ford  when  he  was  sober,  and  so 
they  hated  to  shoot  him,  though  that  seemed  the  only 
way  in  which  they  might  dampen  his  enthusiasm  for 
blood.  Tom  said  that,  if  he  failed  to  improve  in 
temper  by  the  next  day,  he  would  try  and  land 
him  in  jail,  though  it  did  seem  rigorous  treatment 


50       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

for  so  common  a  fault  as  getting  drunk.  Meanwhile 
they  kept  out  of  his  way  as  well  as  they  could,  and 
dodged  missiles  and  swore.  Even  that  was  becoming 
more  and  more  difficult  —  except  the  swearing  — 
because  Ford  developed  a  perfectly  diabolic  tendency 
to  empty  every  store  that  contained  a  man,  so  that 
it  became  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  back  door 
belching  forth  hurrying  figures  at  the  most  unsea- 
sonable times.  No  man  could  lift  a  full  glass,  that 
night,  and  feel  sure  of  drinking  the  contents  undis- 
turbed ;  whereat  Sunset  grumbled  while  it  dodged. 

It  may  have  been  nine  o'clock  before  the  sporadic 
talk  of  a  jail  crystallized  into  a  definite  project  which, 
it  was'  unanimously  agreed,  could  not  too  soon  be 
made  a  realitv. 

They  built  the  jail  that  night,  by  the  light  of 
bonfires  which  the  slightly  wounded  kept  blazing  in 
the  intervals  of  standing  guard  over  the  workers, 
roady  to  give  warning  in  case  Ford  appeared  as  a 
war-cloud  on  their  horizon.  There  were  fifteen  able- 
bodied  men,  and  they  worked  fast,  with  Ford's  war- 
chant  in  the  saloon  down  the  street  as  an  incentive 


TO  DROWN    SORROW        51 

to  speed.  They  erected  it  close  to  Tom  Aldershot's 
house,  because  the  town  borrowed  lumber  from  him 
and  they  wanted  to  save  carrying,  and  because  it 
was  Tom's  duty  to  look  after  the  prisoner,  and  he 
wanted  the  jail  handy,  so  that  he  need  not  lose  any 
time  from  his  house-building. 

They  built  it  strong,  and  they  built  ft  tight,  with- 
out any  window  save  a  narrow  slit  near  the  ceiling; 
they  heated  it  by  setting  a  stove  outside  under  a 
shelter,  where  Tom  could  keep  up  the  fire  without 
the  risk  of  going  inside,  and  ran  pipe  and  a  bor- 
rowed "  drum "  through  the  jail  high  enough  so 
that  Ford  could  not  kick  it.  And  to  discourage  any 
thought  of  suicide  by  hanging,  they  ceiled  the  place 
tightly  with  Tom's  matched  flooring  of  Oregon  pine. 
Tom  did  not  like  that,  and  said  so;  but  the  citizens 
of  Sunset  nailed  it  on  and  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his 
complaints. 

Chill  dawn  spread  over  the  town,  dulling  the  light 
of  the  fires  and  bringing  into  relief  the  sodden  tram- 
plings  in  the  snow  around  the  jail,  with  the  sharply 
defined  paths  leading  to  Tom  Aldershot's  lumber- 


52        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

pile.  The  watchers  had  long  before  sneaked  off  to 
their  beds,  for  not  a  sign  of  Ford  had  they  seen  since 
midnight.  The  storm  had  ceased  early  in  the  even- 
ing and  all  the  sky  was  glowing  crimson  with  the 
coming  glory  of  the  sun.  The  jail  was  almost  fin- 
ished. Up  on  the  roof  three  crouching  figures  were 
nailiug  down  strips  of  brick-red  building  paper  as  a 
fair  substitute  for  shingles,  and  on  the  side  nearest 
town  the  marshal  and  another  were  holding  a  vard- 
wide  piece  flat  against  the  wall  with  fingers  that 
tingled  in  the  cold,  while  Bill  Wright  fastened  it 
into  place  with  shingle  nails  driven  through  tin  disks 
the  size  of  a  half-dollar. 

Ford,  partly  sober  after  a  sleep  on  the  billiard  table 
in  the  hotel  barroom,  heard  the  hammering,  won- 
dered what  industrious  soul  was  up  and  doing  car- 
penter work  at  that  unseemly  hour,  and  after  helping 
himself  to  a  generous  "  eye-opener  "  at  the  deserted 
bar,  found  his  cap  and  went  over  to  investigate.  He 
was  much  surprised  to  see  Bill  Wright  working,  and 
sii'iled  to  himself  as  he  walked  quietly  up  to  him 
through  the  soft,  step-muffling  snow. 


TO   DROWN    SORROW        53 

"  What  you  doing,  Bill  —  building  a  chicken 
house  I "  he  asked,  a  quirk  of  amusement  at  the 
corner  of  his  lips. 

Bill  jumped  and  came  near  swallowing  a  nail;  so 
near  that  his  eyes  bulged  at  the  feel  of  it  next  his 
palate.  Tom  Aldershot  dropped  his  end  of  the 
strip  of  paper,  which  tore  with  a  dull  sound  of  rip- 
ping, and  remarked  that  he  would  be  damned.  lS"ecks 
craned,  up  on  the  roof,  and  startled  eyes  peered  down 
like  chipmunks  from  a  tree.  Some  one  up  there 
dropped  a  hammer  which  hit  Bill  on  the  head,  but 
no  one  said  a  word. 

"  You  act  like  you  were  nervous,  this  morning," 
Ford  observed,  in  the  tone  which  indicates  a  con- 
scious effort  at  good-humored  ignorance.  "  Working 
on  a  bet,  or  what  ?  " 

"  What !  "  snarled  Bill  sarcastically.  "  I  wisht, 
Ford,  next  time  you  bowl  up,  you  'd  pick  on  some- 
body that  ain't  too  good  a  friend  to  fight  back !  I  'm 
gittin'  tired,  by  hokey  —  " 

"What— did  I  lick  you  again,  Bill?"  Ford's 
smile  was  sympathetic  to  a  degree.    "  That 's  too  bad, 


54       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

now.  Next  time  you  want  to  hunt  a  hole  and  crawl 
into  it,  Bill.  I  don't  want  to  hurt  you  —  but  seems 
like  I  've  kinda  got  the  habit.  You  '11  have  to  excuse 
me."  He  hunched  his  shoulders  at  the  chill  of  the 
rnorning  and  walked  around  the  jail,  inspecting  it 
with  half-hearted  interest. 

"  What  is  this,  anyway  ?  "  he  inquired  of  Tom. 
"  Smoke-house  ?  " 

"  It 's  a  jail,"  snapped  Tom.  "  To  put  you  into  if 
you  don't  watch  your  dodgers.  What  'n  thunder  you 
want  to  carry  on  like  you  did  last  night,  for  ?  And 
then  go  and  sober  up  just  when  we  've  got  a  jail 
built  to  put  you  into !  That  ain't  no  way  for  a  man  . 
to  do  - —  I  '11  leave  it  to  Bill  if  it  is !  I  've  a  darned 
good  mind  to  swear  out  a  warrant,  anyway,  Ford,  and 
pinch  you  for  disturbin'  the  peace !  That 's  what  I 
ought  to  do,  all  right."  Tom  beat  his  hands  about 
his  body  and  glared  at  Ford  with  his  ultra-official 
scowl. 

"  All  right,  if  you  want  to  do  it."  Ford's  tone 
embellished  the  reply  with  a  you-tako-the-conse- 
^uences  sort  of  indifference.    "  Only,  I  'd  advise  you 


TO  DROWN   SORROW        55 

never  to  turn  me  loose  again  if  you  do  lock  me  up 
in  this  coop  once." 

"  I  know  I  would  n't  uh  worked  all  night  on  the 
thing  if  I  'd  knowed  you  was  goin'  to  sleep  it  off," 
Bill  complained,  with  deep  reproach  in  his  watery 
eyes.  "  I  made  sure  you  was  due  to  keep  things 
agitated  around  here  for  a  couple  uh  days,  at  the 
very  least,  or  I  never  woulda  drove  a  nail,  by 
hokey!" 

"  It  is  a  darned  shame,  to  have  a  nice,  new  jail 
and  nobody  to  use  it  on,"  sympathized  Ford,  his  eyes 
half-closed  and  steely.  "  I  'd  like  to  help  you  out, 
all  right.  Maybe  I'd  better  kill  you,  Bill;  they 
might  stretch  a  point  and  call  it  manslaughter  — 
and  I  could  use  the  bounty  to  help  pay  a  lawyer, 
if  it  ever  come  to  a  head  as  a  trial." 

Whereat  Bill  almost  wept. 

Ford  pushed  his  hands  deep  into  his  pockets  and 
walked  away,  sneering  openly  at  Bill,  the  marshal. 
the  jail,  and  the  town  which  owned  it,  and  at  wives 
and  matrimony  and  the  world  which  held  all  liese 
vexations. 


56       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

He  went  straight  to  the  shack,  drank  a  oiip  of 
coffee,  and  packed  everything  he  could  find  that  be- 
longed to  him  and  was  not  too  large  for  easy  carry- 
ing on  horseback;  and  when  Sandy,  hovering  un- 
easily around  him,  asked  questions,  he  told  him 
briefly  to  go  off  in  a  corner  and  lie  down;  which 
advice  Sandy  understood  as  an  invitation  to  mind 
his  own  affairs. 

Like  Bill,  Sandy  could  have  wept  at  the  ingrati- 
tude of  this  man.  But  he  asked  no  more  questions 
and  he  made  no  more  objections.  He  picked  up 
the  story  of  the  unpronounceable  count  who  owned 
the  castle  in  the  Black  Forest  and  had  much  tribula- 
tion and  no  joy  until  the  last  chapter,  and  when  Ford 
went  out,  with  his  battered,  sole-leather  suitcase  and 
his  rifle  in  its  pigskin  case,  he  kept  his  pale  eyes 
upon  his  book  and  refused  even  a  grunt  in  response 
to  Ford's  grudging :  "  So  long,  Sandy." 


CHAPTER  IV 

EEACTION 

TT1 VEN  when  a  man  consistently  takes  Life  in- 
■*  ■*  twentv-four-hour  doses  and  likes  those  doses 
full-flavored  with  the  joys  of  this  earth,  there  are 
intervals  when  the  soul  of  him  is  sick,  and  Life  be- 
comes a  nauseous  progression  of  bleak  futility.  He 
may,  in  his  revulsion  against  it,  attempt  to  end  it  all  j 
he  may,  in  sheer  disgust  of  it,  take  his  doses  stronger 
than  ever  before,  as  if  he  would  once  for  all  choke 
to  death  that  part  of  him  which  is  fine  enough  to 
rebel  against  it ;  he  may  even  forswear,  in  melancholy 
penitence,  that  which  has  served  to  give  it  flavor, 
and  vow  him  vows  of  abstemiousness  at  which  the 
grosser  part  of  him  chuckles  ironically;  or,  he  may 
blindly  follow  the  first  errant  impulse  for  change  of 
environment,  in  the  half-formed  hope  that  new  scenes 
may,   without  further  effort  on  his  part,  serve  to 


58       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

make  of  him  a  new  man  —  a  man  for  whom  he  can 
feel  some  respect. 

Ford  did  none  of  these  things,  however.  The  soul- 
sick  incentive  was  there,  and  if  he  had  been  a  little 
less  of  a  reasoning  animal  and  a  little  less  sophisti- 
cated, he  would  probably  have  forsworn  strong  drink 
just  as  he  forswore  all  responsibility  for  his  inad- 
vertent marriage.  His  reason  and  his  experience 
saved  him  from  cluttering  his  conscience  with  broken 
vows,  although  he  did  yield  to  the  impulse  of  change 
to  the  extent  of  leaving  Sunset  while  yet  the  inhab- 
itants were  fortifying  themselves  for  the  ardors  of 
the  day  with  breakfast  and  some  wild  prophecies  con- 
cerning Ford's  next  outbreak. 

Apprehension  over  Bill's  immediate  future  was 
popular  amongst  his  friends,  Ford's  sardonic  refer- 
ence to  manslaughter  and  bounty  being  repeated  often 
enough  in  Bill's  presence  to  keep  that  peace-loving 
gentleman  in  a  state  of  trepidation  which  he  sought 
to  hide  behind  vague  warnings. 

"He  better  think  twicet  before  he  comes  bother- 
ing   around    me,    by    hokey ! "    Bill    would    mutter 


REACTION  59 

darkly.  "  I  've  stood  a  hull  lot  from  Ford ;  I  like 
'ii'i,  when  he  's  himself.  But  I  've  stood  about  as 
much  as  a  man  can  be  expected  to  stand.  And  he 
better  look  out !  That 's  all  I  got  to  say  —  he  better 
look  out !  "  Bill  himself,  it  may  be  observed  inci- 
dentally, spent  the  greater  portion  of  that  day  in 
"  looking  out."  He  was  careful  not  to  sit  down  with 
his  back  to  a  door,  for  instance,  and  was  keenly 
interested  when  a  knob  turned  beneath  unseen  fingers, 
and  plainly  relieved  when  another  than  Ford  entered 
his  presence.  Bill's  mustache  was  nearly  pulled  from 
its  roots,  that  day  —  but  that  is  not  important  to 
the  story,  which  has  to  do  with  Ford  Campbell,  some- 
time the  possessor  of  a  neat  legacy  in  coin,  Liter 
a  rider  of  the  cattle  ranges,  last  presiding  genius 
over  the  poker  table  in  Scotty's  back  room  in  Sunset, 
always  an  important  factor  —  and  too  often  a  dis- 
turbing element — in  any  community  upon  which 
he  chose  to  bestow  his  dynamic  presence. 

Scotty  hoped  that  Ford  would  show  up  for  business 
when  the  lamps  were  lighted,  that  night.  There 
had  been  some  delicacy  on  the  part  of  Ford's  ac- 


60       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

quaintances  that  day  in  the  matter  of  calling  upon 
him  at  the  shack.  They  believed  —  and  hoped  —  that 
Ford  was  "  sleeping  it  off/'  and  there  was  a  unani- 
mous reluctance  to  disturb  his  slumbers.  Sandy, 
indulging  himself  in  the  matter  of  undisturbed  spinal 
tremors  over  "  The  Haunted  Chamber,"  had  not  left 
shelter,  save  when  the  more  insistent  shiverings  of 
chilled  flesh  recalled  him  from  his  pleasurable  nerve- 
crimplings  and  drove  him  forth  to  the  woodpile.  So 
that  it  was  not  until  evening  was  well  advanced  that 
Sunset  learned  that  Ford  was  no  longer  a  potential 
menace  within  its  meager  boundaries.  Bill  took 
a  long  breath,  observed  meaningly  that  "  He  'd  better 
go  —  whilst  his  credit  's  good,  by  hokey !  "  and  for 
the  first  time  that  day  sat  down  with  his  back  toward 
an  outer  door. 

Ford  was  not  worrying  about  Sunset  half  as  much 
as  Sunset  was  worrying  about  him.  He  was  at  that 
moment  playing  pinochle  half-heartedly  with  a  hos- 
pitable sheep-herder,  under  the  impression  that,  since 
his  host  had  frankly  and  profanely  professed  a  re- 
vulsion against  solitaire  and  a  corresponding  hunger 


REACTION  61 

for  pinochle,  his  duty  as  a  guest  lay  in  satisfying 
that  hunger.  He  played  apathetically,  overlooked 
several  melts  he  might  have  made,  and  so  lost  three 
games  in  succession  to  the  gleeful  herder,  who  had 
needed  the  diversion  almost  as  much  as  he  needed 
a  hair-cut. 

His  sense  of  social  responsibility  being  eased 
thereby,  Ford  took  his  headache  and  his  dull  disgust 
with  life  to  the  wall  side  of  the  herder's  frowsy  bunk, 
and  straightway  forgot  both  in  heavy  slumber,  leav- 
ing to  the  morrow  any  definite  plan  for  the  near 
future  —  the  far  future  being  as  little  considered  as 
death  and  what  is  said  to  lie  beyond. 

That  day  had  done  for  him  all  he  asked  of  it.  It 
had  put  him  thirty  miles  and  more  from  Sunset, 
against  which  he  felt  a  resentment  which  it  little 
deserved;  of  a  truth  it  was  as  inoffensive  a  hamlet 
as  any  in  that  region,  and  its  sudden,  overweening 
desire  for  a  jail  was  but  a  legitimate  impulse  toward 
self-preservation.  The  fault  was  Ford's,  in  harass- 
ing the  men  of  Sunset  into  action.  But  several  times 
that  day,  and  again  while  he  was  pulling  the  stale- 


62       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

odored  blankets  snugly  about  his  ears,  Ford  anath- 
ematized the  place  as  "  a  damned,  rotten  hole,"  and 
was  as  nearly  thankful  as  his  mood  would  permit, 
when  he  remembered  that  it  lay  far  behind  him  and 
was  likely  to  be  farther  before  his  journey ings  were 
done. 

Sleep  held  him  until  daylight  seeped  in  through 
the  one  dingy  window.  Ford  awoke  to  the  acrid  smell 
of  scorched  bacon,  thought  at  first  that  Sandy  was 
once  more  demonstrating  his  inefficiency  as  a  cook, 
and  when  he  remembered  that  Sandy's  name  was 
printed  smudgily  upon  that  page  of  his  life  which 
he  had  lately  turned  down  as  a  blotted,  unlearned 
lesson  is  pushed  behind  an  unwilling  schoolboy,  he 
began  to  consider  seriously  his  next  step. 

Outside,  the  sheep  were  blatting  stridently  their 
demand  for  breakfast.  The  herder  bolted  coffee  and 
coarse  food  until  he  was  filled,  and  went  away  to 
his  dreary  day's  work,  telling  Ford  to  make  himself 
at  home,  and  flinging  back  a  hope  of  further  tri- 
umphs in  pinochle,  that  night. 

Ford  washed  the  dishes,  straightened  the  blankets 


REACTION  63 

in  the  bunk,  swept  the  grimy  floor  as  well  as  he 
could  with  the  stub  of  broom  he  found,  filled  the 
wood-box  and  then,  being  face  to  face  with  his  day 
and  the  problem  it  held,  rolled  a  cigarette,  and 
smoked  it  in  deep  meditation. 

He  wanted  to  get  away  from  town,  and  poker 
games,  and  whisky,  and  the  tumult  it  brewed.  Some- 
thing within  him  hungered  for  clean,  wind-swept 
reaches  and  the  sane  laughter  of  men,  and  Ford 
was  accustomed  to  doing,  or  at  least  trying  to  do,  the 
thing  he  wanted  to  do.  He  was  not  getting  into  the 
wilderness  because  of  any  inward  struggle  toward 
right  living,  but  because  he  was  sick  of  town  and 
the  sordid  life  he  had  lived  there. 

Somewhere,  back  toward  the  rim  of  mountains 
which  showed  a  faint  violet  against  the  sky  to  the 

it,  he  owned  a  friend;  and  that  friend  owned  a 
stock  ranch  which,  Ford  judged,  must  be  of  goodly 
extent;  two  weeks  before,  hearing  somehow  that  Ford 
Campbell  was  running  a  poker  game  in  Sunset,  the 
friend  had  written  and  asked  him  to  come  and  take 
charge  of  his  "  outfit,"  on  the  plea  that,  his  foreman 


64        THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

having  died,  he  was  burdened  with  many  cares  and 
in  urgent  need  of  help. 

Ford,  giving  the  herder's  frying-pan  a  last  wipe 
with  the  dish-cloth,  laughed  at  the  thought  of  taking 
the  responsibility  offered  him  in  that  letter.  It  oc- 
curred to  him,  however,  that  the  Double  Cross 
(which  was  the  brand-name  of  Mason's  ranch)  might 
be  a  pleasant  place  to  visit.  It  was  long  since  he 
had  seen  Ches  —  and  there  had  been  a  time  when 
one  bed  held  the  two  of  them  through  many  a  long, 
weary  night ;  when  one  frying-pan  cooked  the  scanty 
food  they  shared  between  them.  And  there  had  been 
a  season  of  grinding  days  and  anxious,  black  nights 
between,  when  the  one  problem,  to  Ford,  consisted 
of  getting  Ches  Mason  out  of  the  wild  land  where 
they  wandered,  and  getting  him  out  alive.  The 
problem  Ford  bolved  and  at  the  solution  men  won- 
dered. Afterward  they  had  drifted  apart,  but  the 
memory  of  those  months  would  hold  them  together 
with  a  bond  which  not  even  time  could  break  —  a 
bond  which  would  pull  taut  whenever  they  met. 

Ford  set  down  the  frying-pan  and  went  to  the 


REACTION  65 

door  and  looked  out.  A  chinook  had  blown  up  in 
the  night,  and  although  the  wind  was  chill,  the  snow 
had  disappeared,  save  where  drifts  clung  to  the 
hollows,  shrinking  and  turning  black  beneath  the 
sweeping  gusts;  sodden  masses  which  gave  to  the 
prairie  a  dreary  aspect  of  bleak  discomfort.  But 
Ford  was  well  pleased  at  the  sight  of  the  brown, 
beaten  grasses.  Impulse  was  hardening  to  decision 
while  he  stared  across  the  empty  land  toward  the 
violet  rim  of  hills;  a  decision  to  ride  over  to  the 
Double  Cross,  and  tell  Ches  Mason  to  his  face  that 
he  was  a  chump,  and  have  a  smoke  with  the  old 
Turk,  anyway.  Ches  had  married,  since  that  vividly 
remembered  time  when  adventure  changed  to  hard- 
ship and  hazard  and  walked  hand  in  hand  with 
them  through  the  wild  places.  Ford  wondered  fleet- 
ingly  if  matrimony  had  changed  old  Ches ;  probably 
not —  at  least,  not  in  those  essential  man-traits  which 
appeal  to  men.  Ford  suddenly  hungered  for  the 
man's  hearty  voice,  where  kindly  humor  lurked  al- 
ways, and  for  a  grip  of  his  hand. 

It  was  like  him  to  forget  all   about  the  herder 


66       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

and  the  promise  of  pinochle  that  night.  He  went 
eagerly  to  the  decrepit  little  shed  which  housed  Ram- 
bler, his  long-legged,  flea-bitten  gray;  saddled  him 
purposefully  and  rode  away  toward  the  violet  hills 
at  the  trail-trot  which  eats  up  the  miles  with  the  least 
effort. 

That  night,  although  he  slept  in  a  hamlet  which 
called  itself  a  town,  his  purpose  kept  firm  hold  of 
him,  and  he  rode  away  at  a  decent  hour  the  next 
morning,  —  and  he  rode  sober.  He  kept  his  face 
toward  the  hills,  and  he  did  not  trouble  himself 
with  any  useless  analysis  of  his  unusual  temperate- 
ness.  He  was  going  to  blow  in  to  the  Double  Cross 
some  time  before  he  slept  that  night,  and  have  a  talk 
with  Ches.  He  had  a  pint  of  fairly  good  whisky 
in  his  pocket,  in  case  he  felt  the  need  of  a  little  on 
the  way,  and  beyond  those  two  satisfactory  certain- 
ties he  did  not  attempt  to  reason.  They  were  sig- 
nificant, in  a  way,  to  a  man  with  a  tendency  toward 
introspection;  but  Ford  was  interested  in  actualities 
and  never  stopped  to  wonder  why  he  bought  a  pint, 
rather  than  a  quart,  or  why,  with  Ches  Mason  in 


REACTION  67 

his  mind,  he  declined  to  "  set  in  "  to  the  poker  game 
which  was  running  to  tempting  jackpots,  the  night 
before;  or  why  he  took  one  glass  of  wine  before  he 
mounted  Rambler  and  let  it  go  at  that.  He  never 
once  dreamed  that  the  memory  of  cheerful,  steady- 
going  Ches  influenced  him  toward  starting  on  his 
friendly  pilgrimage  the  Ford  Campbell  whom  Mason 
had  known  eight  years  before ;  a  very  different  Ford 
Campbell,  be  it  said,  from  the  one  who  had  caused 
a  whole  town  to  breathe  freer  for  his  absence. 

Of  his  wife  Ford  had  thought  less  often  and  less 
uncomfortably  since  he  left  the  town  wherein  had 
occurred  the  untoward  incident  of  his  marriage.  He- 
was  not  unaccustomed  to  doing  foolish  things  when 
he  was  drunk,  and  as  a  rule  he  made  it  a  point  to 
ignore  them  afterwards.  His  mysterious,  matri- 
monial accident  was  beginning  to  seem  less  of  a  real 
<ai;'strophe  than  before,  and  the  anticipation  of  meet- 
ing Ches  Mason  was  rapidly  taking  pvecedoncv  of  all 
else  in  his  mind. 

So,  with  almost  his  normal  degree  of  careless 
equanimity,  he  faced  again  the  rim  of  hills  —  nearer 


68       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

they  were  now,  with  a  deeper  tinge  that  was  almost 
purple  where  the  shadoAvs  lined  them  here  and  there. 
Somewhere  out  that  way  lay  the  Double  Cross  ranch. 
Forty  miles,  one  man  told  him  it  was;  another, 
forty-three.  At  best  it  was  far  enough  for  the  short- 
ened daylight  of  one  fall  day  to  cover  the  journey. 
Ford  threw  away  the  stub  of  his  after-breakfast  ciga- 
rette and  swung  into  the  trail  at  a  lope. 


Dick  tottered  upon  the  step  and  wenl  off  backward.     Pa 


CHAPTER  V 


"  I    CAN    SPAEE    THIS   PAETICULAR    GIRL  W 


FORD'S  range-trained  vision  told  him,  while  yet 
afar  off,  that  the  lone  horse  feeding  upon  a 
side  hill  was  saddled  and  bridled,  with  reins  drag- 
ging; the  telltale,  upward  toss  of  its  head  when  it 
started  on  to  find  a  sweeter  morsel  was  evidence 
enough  of  the  impeding  bridle,  even  before  he  was 
near  enough  to  distinguish  the  saddle. 

Your  true  range  man  owns  blood-relationship  with 
the  original  Good  Samaritan;  Ford  swung  out  of 
the  trail  and  untied  his  rope  as  a  matter  of  course. 
The  master  of  the  animal  might  have  turned  him 
loose  to  feed,  but  if  that  were  the  case,  he  had  strayed 
farther  than  was  ever  intended ;  the  chances,  since 
no  human  being  was  in  sight,  were  all  against  design 
and  in  favor  of  accident.  At  any  rate  Ford  did 
not  hesitate.     It  is  not  good  to  let  a  horse  run  loose 


70       THE'  UPHILL    CLIMB 

upon  the  range  with  a  saddle  cinched  npon  its  back, 
as  every  one  knows. 

Ford  was  riding  along  the  sheer  edge  of  a  water- 
worn  gully,  seeking  a  place  where  he  might  safely 
jump  it  —  or  better,  a  spot  where  the  banks  sloped 
so  that  he  might  ride  down  into  it  and  climb  the 
bank  beyond  —  when  he  saw  a  head  and  pair  of 
shoulders  moving  slowly  along,  just  over  the  brow 
of  the  hill  where  fed  the  stray.  He  watched,  and 
when  the  figure  topped  the  ridge  and  started  down 
the  slope  which  faced  him,  his  eyes  widened  a  trifle 
in  surprise. 

Skirts  to  the  tops  of  her  shoes  betrayed  her  a 
woman.  She  limped  painfully,  so  that  Ford  imme- 
diately pictured  to  himself  puckered  eyebrows  and 
lips  pressed  tightly  together.  "  And  I  '11  bet  she  's 
crying,  too,"  he  summed  up  aloud.  While  he  was 
speaking,  she  stumbled  and  fell  headlong. 

When  he  saw  that  she  made  no  attempt  to  rise,  but 
lay  still  just  as  she  had  fallen,  Ford  looked  no  longer 
for  an  easy  crossing.  He  glanced  up  and  down  the 
washout,  saw  no  more  promising  point  than  where 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    71 

he  was,  wheeled  and  rode  back  twenty  yards  or  so, 
turned  and  drove  deep  his  spurs. 

It  was  a  nasty  jump,  and  he  knew  it  all  along. 
When  Rambler  rose  gamely  to  it,  with  tensed  muscles 
and  forefeet  flung  forward  to  catch  the  bank  beyond, 
he  knew  it  better.  And  when,  after  a  sickening 
minute  of  frenzied  scrambling  at  the  crumbling  edge, 
they  slid  helplessly  to  the  bottom,  he  cursed  his 
idiocy  for  ever  attempting  it. 

Rambler  got  up  with  a  pronounced  limp,  but  Ford 
had  thrown  himself  from  the  saddle  and  escaped 
with  nothing  worse  than  a  skinned  elbow.  They 
were  penned,  however,  in  a  box-like  gully  ten  feet 
deep,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  follow  it  to 
where  they  might  climb  out.  Ford  was  worried  about 
the  girl,  and  made  a  futile  attempt  to  stand  in  the 
saddle  and  from  there  climb  up  to  the  level.  But 
Rambler,  lame  as  he  was,  plunged  so  that  Ford 
finally  gave  it  up  and  started  down  the  gulch,  lead- 
ing Rambler  by  the  reins. 

There  were  many  sharp  turns  and  temper-trying 
windings,  and  though  it  narrowed  in  many  places  so 


72       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

that  there  was  barely  room  for  them  to  pass,  it  never 
grew  shallower;  indeed,  it  grew  always  deeper;  and 
then,  without  any  warning,  it  stopped  abruptly  upon 
a  coulee's  rim,  with  jumbled  rocks  and  between 
them  a  sheer  descent  to  the  slope  below.  Ford  guessed 
then  that  he  was  boxed  up  in  one  of  the  main  water- 
ways of  the  foot-hills  he  had  been  skirting  for  the 
past  hour  or  so,  and  that  he  should  have  ridden  up 
the  gulch  instead  of  down  it. 

He  turned,  though  the  place  was  so  narrow  that 
Rambler's  four  feet  almost  touched  one  another  and 
his  rump  scraped  the  bank,  as  Ford  pulled  him  round, 
and  retraced  his  steps.  It  was  too  rough  for  riding, 
even  if  he  had  not  wanted  to  save  the  horse,  and  he 
had  no  idea  how  far  he  must  go  before  he  could  get 
out.  Ford,  at  that  time,  was  not  particularly 
cheerful. 

He  must  have  gone  a  mile  and  more  before  he 
reached  the  point  where,  by  hard  scrambling,  he  at- 
tained level  ground  upon  the  same  side  as  the  girl. 
Ton  minutes  he  spent  in  urging  Rambler  up  the 
bank,  and  when  the  horse  stood  breathing  heavily 


it 


THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    73 


beside  him,  Ford  knew  that,  for  all  the  good  there 
was  in  him  at  present,  he  might  as  well  have  left 
him  at  the  bottom.  He  walked  around  him,  rubbing 
log  and  shoulder  muscles  until  he  located  the  hurt, 
and  shook  his  head  when  all  was  done.  Then  he 
started  on  slowly,  with  Kambler  hobbling  painfully 
after  him.  Ford  knew  that  every  rod  would  ag- 
gravate that  strained  shoulder  and  that  a  stop  would 
probably  make  it  impossible  for  the  horse  to  go  on 
at  all. 

He  was  not  quite  sure,  after  all  those  windings 
where  he  could  not  see,  just  where  it  was  he  had 
seen  the  girl,  but  he  recognized  at  last  the  undulating 
outline  of  the  ridge  over  which  she  had  appeared, 
and  made  what  haste  he  could  up  the  slope.  The 
grazing  horse  was  no  longer  in  sight,  though  he 
knew  it  might  be  feeding  in  a  hollow  near  by. 

He  had  almost  given  up  hope  of  finding  her,  when 
he  turned  his  head  and  saw  her  off  to  one  side, 
lying  half  concealed  by  a  clump  of  low  rose  bushes. 
She  was  not  unconscious,  as  he  had  thought,  but 
was  crying  silently,  with  her  face  upon  her  folded 


74       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

arms  and  her  hat  askew  over  one  ear.  He  stooped 
and  touched  her  upon  the  shoulder. 

She  lifted  her  head  and  looked  at  him,  and  drew 
away  with  a  faint,  withdrawing  gesture,  which  was 
very  slight  in  itself  but  none  the  less  eloquent  and 
unmistakable.  Ford  backed  a  step  when  he  saw  it 
and  closed  his  lips  without  speaking  the  words  he 
had  meant  to  say. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  want  ?  "  the  girl  asked  un- 
graciously, after  a  minute  spent  in  fumbling  unseen 
hairpius  and  in  straightening  her  hat.  "  I  don't 
know  why  you  're  standing  there  like  that,  staring 
at  me.     I  don't  need  any  help." 

"  Appearances  are  deceitful,  then,"  Ford  retorted. 
"  I  saw  you  limping  over  the  hill,  after  your  horse, 
and  I  saw  you  fall  down  and  stay  down.  I  had  an 
idea  that  a  little  help  would  be  acceptable,  but  of 


course  —  " 


"  That  was  an  hour  ago,"  she  interrupted  ac- 
cusingly, with  a  measuring  glance  at  the  sun,  which 
was  settling  toward  the  sky-line. 

"  I  had  trouble  getting  across  that  washout  down 


■■i 


■ 


She  lifted  her  head  and  looked  at  him,  and  drew  away.     Page  74. 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    75 

there.  I  don't  know  this  part  of  the  country,  and  I 
went  down  it  instead  of  up.  What  are  you  crying 
about  —  if  you  don't  need  any  help  ?  " 

She  eyed  hi:n  askance,  and  chewed  upon  a  corner 
of  her  lip,  and  nipped  the  upturned  hem  of  her 
riding  skirt  down  over  one  spurred  foot  with  a  truly 
feminine  instinct,  before  she  answered  him.  She 
seemed  to  be  thinking  hard  and  fast,  and  she  hesi- 
tated even  while  she  spoke.  Ford  wondered  at  the 
latent  antagonism  in  her  manner. 

"  I  was  crying  because  my  foot  hurts  so  and  be- 
cause I  don't  see  how  I  'm  going  to  get  tack  to 
the  ranch.  I  suppose  they  '11  hunt  me  up  if  I  stay 
away  long  enough  —  but  it 's  getting  toward  night, 
and  —  I  'm  scared  to  death  of  coyotes,  if  you  must 
know !  " 

Ford  laughed  —  at  her  defiance,  in  the  face  of  her 
absolute  helplessness,  more  than  at  what  she  said. 
"  And  you  tell  me  you  don't  need  any  help  ? ':'  he 
bantered. 

"  I  might  borrow  your  horse,"  she  suggested  coldly, 
as  if  she  grudged  yielding  even  that  much  to  circum- 


76       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

stance.  "  Or  you  might  catch  mine  for  me,  I  sup- 
pose." 

"  Sure.  But  you  need  n't  hate  me  because  you  're 
in  trouble,"  he  hinted  irrelevantly.  "  I  'm  not  to 
blame,  you  know." 

"I  —  I  hate  to  ask  help  from  —  a  stranger,"  she 
said,  watching  him  from  under  her  lashes.  "  And 
I  can't  help  showing  what  I  feel.  I  hate  to  feel 
under  an  obligation  —  " 

"  If  that 's  all,  forget  it,"  he  assured  her  calmly. 
"  It  's  a  law  of  the  open  —  to  help  a  fellow  out  in 
a  pinch.  When  I  headed  for  here,  I  thought  it  was 
a  man  had  been  set  afoot." 

She  eyed  him  curiously.  "  Then  you  did  n't 
know  —  " 

"  I  thought  you  were  a  man,"  he  repeated.  "  I 
did  n't  come  just  because  I  saw  it  was  a  girl.  You 
need  n't  feel  under  any  obligation  whatever.  I  'm 
a  stranger  in  the  country  and  a  stranger  to  you.  I  'm 
perfectly  willing  to  stay  that  way,  if  you  prefer. 
I  'm  not  trying  to  scrape  acquaintance  on  the 
strength  of  your  being  in  trouble;  but  you  surely 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL'     77 

don't  expect  a  man  to  ride  on  and  leave  a  woman 
out  here  on  the  bald  prairie  —  do  you  ?  Especially 
when  she  's  confessed  she  's  afraid  of  the  dark  —  and 
coyotes !  " 

She  was  staring  at  him  while  he  spoke,  and  she 
continued  to  stare  after  he  had  finished;  the  intro- 
spective look  which  sees  without  seeing,  it  became 
at  last,  and  Ford  gave  a  shrug  at  her  apparent  obsti- 
nacy and  turned  away  to  where  Rambler  stood  with 
his  head  drooped  and  his  eyes  half  closed.  He 
picked  up  the  reins  and  chirped  to  him,  and  the 
horse  hesitated,  swung  his  left  foot  painfully  for- 
ward, hobbled  a  step,  and  looked  at  Ford  reproach- 
fully. 

"  Your  horse  is  crippled  as  badly  as  I  am,  it 
would  seem,"  the  girl  observed,  from  where  she  sat 
watching  them. 

"  I  strained  his  shoulder,  trying  to  make  him 
jump  that  washout.  That  was  when  I  first  got  sight 
of  you  over  here.  We  went  to  the  bottom  and  it  took 
me  quite  a  while  to  find  a  way  out.  That 's  why  I 
was  so  long  getting  here."     Ford  explained   indif- 


78       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

ferently,  with  his  back  to  her,  while  he  rubbed  com- 
niiseratingly  the  swelling  shoulder. 

"  Oh."  The  girl  waited.  "  It  seems  to  me  you 
need  help  yourself.  I  don't  see  how  you  expect  to 
help  any  one  else,  with  your  horse  in  that  condition," 
she  added.  And  when  he  still  did  not  speak,  she 
asked :  "  Do  you  know  how  far  it  is  to  the  nearest 
ranch  ?  " 

"  No.  I  told  you  I  'm  a  stranger  in  this  country. 
I  was  heading  for  the  Double  Cross,  but  I  don't  know 
just  -  " 

"  We  're  eight  miles,  straight  across,  from  there ; 
ten,  the  way  we  would  have  to  go  to  get  there.  There 
are  other  washouts  in  this  country  —  which  it  is 
unwise  to  attempt  jumping,  Mr.  —  " 

"  Campbell,"  Ford  supplied  shortly. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  ?    You  mumbled  —  " 

"  Campbell !  "  Ford  was  tempted  to  shout  it  but 
contented  himself  with  a  tart  distinctness.  A  late, 
untoward  incident  had  made  him  somewhat  touchy 
over  his  name,  and  he  had  not  mumbled. 

"  Oh.     Did  you  skin  your  face  and  blacken  your 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    79 

eye,  Mr.   Campbell,  when  you  tried  to  jump  that 
washout  ?  " 

"  No."  Ford  did  not  offer  any  explanation.  He 
remembered  the  scars  of  battle  which  were  still 
plainly  visible  upon  his  countenance,  and  he  turned 
red  while  he  bent  over  the  fore  ankles  of  Kambler, 
trying  to  discover  other  sprains.  He  felt  that  he 
was  going  to  dislike  this  girl  very  much  before  he 
succeeded  in  getting  her  to  shelter.  He  could  not 
remember  ever  meeting  before  a  woman  under  forty 
with  so  unpleasant  a  manner  and  with  such  a  talent 
for  disagreeable  utterances. 

"  Then  you  must  have  been  fighting  a  wildcat,"  she 
hazarded. 

"  Pardon  me ;  is  this  a  Methodist  experience  meet- 
ing ?  "  he  retorted,  looking  full  at  her  with  lowering 
brows.  "  It  seems  to  me  the  only  subject  which  con- 
cerns us  mutually  is  the  problem  of  getting  to  a 
ranch  before  dark." 

"  You  '11  have  to  solve  it  yourself.  I  never  at- 
tempt puzzles."  The  girl,  somewhat  to  his  surprise, 
showed   no  resentment   at   his   rebuff.      Indeed,   he 


80       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

began  to  suspect  her  of  being  secretly  amused.  He 
began  also  mentally  to  accuse  her  of  not  being  too 
badly  hurt  to  walk,  if  she  wanted  to;  indeed,  his 
skepticism  went  so  far  as  to  accuse  her  of  delib- 
erately baiting  him — though  why,  he  did  not  try 
to  conjecture.  Women  were  queer.  Witness  his  own 
late  experience  with  one. 

Being  thus  in  a  finely  soured  mood,  Ford  sug- 
gested that,  as  she  no  doubt  knew  the  shortest  way 
to  the  nearest  ranch,  they  at  least  make  a  start  in 
that  direction. 

"  How  ?  "  asked  the  girl,  staring  up  at  him  from 
where  she  sat  beside  the  rose  bushes. 

"  By  walking,  I  suppose  —  unless  you  expect  me 
to  carry  you."  Ford's  tone  was  not  in  any  degree 
affable. 

"  I  fancy  it  would  be  asking  too  great  a  favor  to 
suggest  that  you  catch  my  horse  for  me  ?  " 

Ford  dropped  Rambler's  reins  and  turned  to  her, 
irritated  to  the  point  where  he  felt  a  distinct  desire 
to  shake  her. 

"  I  'd  far  rather  catch  your  horse,  even  if  I  had 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"     81 

to  haze  him  all  over  the  country,  than  carry  you," 
he  stated  bluntly. 

"  Yes.  I  suspected  that  much."  She  had  plucked 
a  red  seed-ball  off  the  bush  nearest  her  and  was  nib- 
bling daintily  the  sweet  pulp  off  the  outside. 

"  Where  is  the  horse  ? "  Ford  was  holding  himself 
rigidly  back  from  an  outburst  of  temper. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure."  She  picked  an- 
other seed-ball  and  began  upon  it.  "  He  should  be 
somewhere  around,  unless  he  has  taken  a  notion  to 
go  home." 

Ford  said  something  under  his  breath  and  untied 
his  rope  from  the  saddle.  He  knew  about  where  the 
horse  had  been  feeding  when  he  saw  him,  and  he 
judged  that  it  would  naturally  graze  in  the  direction 
of  home  —  which  would  probably  be  somewhere  off 
to  the  southeast,  since  the  trail  ran  more  or  less  in 
that  direction.  Without  a  word  to  the  girl,  or  a 
glance  toward  her,  he  started  up  the  hill,  hoping  to 
get  his  bearings  and  a  sight  of  the  horse  from  the 
top.  He  could  not  remember  when  he  had  been  so 
angry  with   a  woman.     "  If  she  was   a   man,"   he 


82        THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

gritted  as  he  climbed,  "  I  'd  give  her  a  thrashing  or 
leave  her  out  there,  just  as  she  deserves.  That 's 
the  worst  of  dealing  with  a  woman  —  she  can  always 
hand  it  to  you,  and  you  've  got  to  give  her  a  grin  and 
thank-you,  because  she  ain't  a  man." 

He  glanced  back,  then,  and  saw  her  sitting  with 
her  head  dropped  forward  upon  her  hands.  There 
was  something  infinitely  pitiful  and  lonely  in  her 
attitude,  and  he  knitted  his  brows  over  the  contrast 
between  it  and  her  manner  when  he  left  her.  "  I 
don't  suppose  a  woman  knows,  herself,  what  she 
means,  half  the  time,"  he  hazarded  impatiently. 
"  She  certainly  did  n't  have  any  excuse  for  throwing 
it  into  me  the  way  she  did ;  maybe  she  's  sorry  for 
it  now." 

After  that  his  anger  cooled  imperceptibly,  and  he 
hurried  a  little  faster  because  the  day  was  waning 
with  the  chill  haste  of  mid-autumn,  and  he  recalled 
what  she  had  said  at  first  about  being  afraid  of 
coyotes.  And,  although  the  storm  of  three  days  ago 
had  been  swept  into  mere  memory  by  that  sudden 
chinook  wind,  and  the  days  were  once  more  invit- 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    83 

inglj  warm  and  hazily  tranquil,  night  came  shiver- 
ingly  upon  the  land  and  the  unhoused  thought  long- 
ingly of  hot  suppers  and  the  glow  of  a  fire. 

The  girl's  horse  was,  he  believed,  just  disappear- 
ing into  a  deep  depression  half  a  mile  farther  on ;  but 
when  he  reached  the  place  where  he  had  seen  it,  there 
was  nothing  in  sight  save  a  few  head  of  cattle  and 
a  coyote  trotting  leisurely  up  the  farther  slope.  He 
went  farther  down  the  shallow  coulee,  then  up  to 
the  high  level  beyond,  his  rope  coiled  loosely  over 
one  arm  with  the  end  dragging  a  foot  behind  him. 
But  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  from  up  there, 
except  that  the  sun  was  just  a  red  disk  upon  the 
far-off  hills,  and  that  the  night  was  going  to  be 
uncomfortably  cool  if  that  wind  kept  blowing  from 
the  northwest. 

He  began  to  feel  slightly  uneasy  about  the  girl, 
and  to  regret  wasting  any  time  over  her  horse,  and 
to  fear  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  get  close  enough 
to  rope  the  beast,  even  if  he  did  see  him. 

He  turned  back  then  and  walked  swiftly  through 
the  dusk  toward  the  ridge,  beyond  which  she  and 


84       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

Rambler  were  waiting.  But  it  was  a  long  way  — 
much  farther  than  he  had  realized  until  he  came  to 
retrace  his  steps  —  and  the  wind  blew  up  a  thin  rift 
of  clouds  which  made  the  darkness  come  quickly. 
He  found  it  difficult  to  tell  exactly  at  which  point 
he  had  crossed  the  ridge,  coming  over ;  and  although 
experience  in  the  open  develops  in  a  man  a  certain 
animal  instinct  for  directions  handed  down  by  our 
primitive  ancestry,  Ford  went  wide  in  his  anxiety 
to  take  the  shortest  way  back  to  his  unwilling  pro- 
tegee. The  westering  slope  was  lighter,  however,  and 
five  minutes  of  wandering  along  the  ridge  showed 
him  a  dim  bulk  which  he  knew  was  Rambler.  He 
hurried  to  the  place,  and  the  horse  whinnied  shrilly 
as  he  approached. 

"  I  looked  as  long  as  I  could  see,  almost,  but  I 
could  n't  locate  your  horse,"  Ford  remarked  to  the 
dark  shadow  of  the  rose  bushes.  "  I  '11  put  you  on 
mine.  It  will  be  slow  going,  of  course  —  lame  as 
he  is  —  but  I  guess  we  can  manage  to  get  some- 
where." 

He  waited  for  the  chill,  impersonal  reply.     When 


''THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    85 

she  did  not  speak,  he  leaned  and  peered  at  the  spot 
where  he  knew  she  must  be.     "  If  you  want  to  try 
it,  we  'd  better  be  starting,"  he  urged  sharply.    "  It 's 
'  going  to  be  pretty  cold  here  on  this  side-hill." 

When  there  was  silence  still  —  and  he  gave  her 
plenty  of  time  for  reply  —  Ford  stooped  and  felt 
gropingly  for  her,  thinking  she  must  be  asleep.  He 
glanced  back  at  Rambler;  unless  the  horse  had 
moved,  she  should  have  been  just  there,  under  his 
hands ;  or,  he  thought,  she  may  have  moved  to  some 
other  spot,  and  be  waiting  in  the  dark  to  see  what 
he  would  do.  His  palms  touched  the  pressed  grasses 
where  she  had  been,  but  he  did  not  say  a  word.  He 
would  not  give  her  that  satisfaction;  and  he  told 
himself  grimly  that  he  had  his  opinion  of  a  girl  who 
would  waste  time  in  foolery,  out  here  in  the  cold  — 
with  a  sprained  ankle,  to  boot. 

He  pulled  a  handful  of  the  long  grass  which  grows 
best  among  bushes.  It  was  dead  now,  and  dry.  He 
twisted  it  into  a  makeshift  torch,  lighted  and  held 
it  high,  so  that  its  blaze  made  a  great  disk  of  bright- 
ness all  around  him.    While  it  burned  he  looked  for 


8G       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

her,  and  when  it  grew  to  black  cinders  and  was  near 
to  scorching  his  hand,  he  made  another  and  looked 
farther.  He  laid  aside  his  dignity  and  called,  and 
while  his  voice  went  booming  full-lunged  through 
the  whispering  silence  of  that  empty  land,  he  twisted 
the  third  torch,  and  stamped  the  embers  of  the  second 
into  the  earth  that  it  might  not  fire  the  prairie. 

There  was  no  dodging  the  fact ;  the  girl  was  gone. 
When  Ford  was  perfectly  sure  of  it,  he  stamped  the 
third  torch  to  death  with  vicious  heels,  went  back 
to  the  horse,  and  urged  him  to  limp  up  the  hill.  He 
did  not  say  anything  then  or  think  anything  much ; 
at  least,  he  did  not  think  coherently.  He  was  so  full 
of  a  wordless  rage  against  the  girl,  that  he  did  not 
at  first  feel  the  need  of  expression.  She  had  made 
a  fool  of  him. 

He  remembered  once  shooting  a  big,  beautiful, 
blacktail  doe.  She  had  dropped  limply  in  her  tracks 
and  lain  there,  and  he  had  sauntered  up  and  stood 
looking  at  her  stretched  before  him.  He  was  out 
of  meat,  and  the  doe  meant  all  that  hot  venison  steaks 
and  rich,  brown  gravy  can  mean  to  a  man  meat- 


"THIS  PARTICULAR  GIRL"    87 

hungry.  While  he  unsheathed  his  hunting  knife,  he 
gloated  over  the  feast  he  would  have,  that  night. 
And  just  when  he  had  laid  his  rifle  against  a  rock 
and  knelt  to  bleed  her,  the  deer  leaped  from  under 
his  hand  and  bounded  away  over  the  hill.  He  had 
not  said  a  word  on  that  occasion,  either. 

This  night,  although  the  case  was  altogether  dif- 
ferent and  the  disappearance  of  the  girl  was  in  no 
sense  a  disaster  —  rather  a  relief,  if  anything  —  he 
felt  that  same  wordless  rage,  the  same  sense  of  utter 
chagrin.  She  had  made  a  fool  of  him.  After  awhile 
he  felt  his  jaws  aching  with  the  vicelike  pressure  of 
his  teeth  together. 

They  topped  the  ridge,  Rambler  hobbling  stiffly. 
Ford  had  in  mind  a  sheltering  rim  of  sandstone  at 
the  nearest  point  of  the  coulee  he  had  crossed  in 
searching  for  the  girl's  horse,  and  made  for  it.  He 
had  noticed  a  spring  there,  and  while  the  water  might 
not  be  good,  the  shelter  would  be  welcome,  at  any 
rate. 

He  had  the  saddle  off  Rambler,  the  shoulder  bathed 
with  cold  water  from  the  spring,  and  was  warming 


88       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

his  wet  hands  over  a  little  fire  when  the  first  gleam 
of  humor  struck  through  his  anger  and  lighted  for 
a  moment  the  situation. 

"  Lordy  me !  I  must  be  a  hoodoo,  where  women 
are  concerned,"  he  said,  kicking  the  smoking  stub 
of  a  bush  into  the  blaze.  "  Soon  as  one  crosses  my 
trail,  she  goes  and  disappears  off  the  face  of  the 
earth !  "  He  fumbled  for  his  tobacco  and  papers. 
It  was  a  "  dry  camp  "  he  was  making  that  night, 
and  a  smoke  would  have  to  serve  for  a  supper.  He 
held  his  book  of  papers  absently  while  he  stared 
hard  at  the  fire. 

"  It  ain't  such  a  bad  hoodoo,"  he  mused.  "  I  can 
spare  this  particular  girl  just  as  easy  as  not ;  and  the 
other  one,  too,  for  that  matter." 

After  a  minute  spent  in  blowing  apart  the  thin 
leaves  and  selecting  a  paper : 

"  Queer  where  she  got  to  —  and  it 's  a  darned 
mean  trick  to  play  on  a  man  that  was  just  trying  to 
help  her  out  of  a  fix.  Why,  I  would  n't  treat  a  stray 
dog  that  way !     Darn  these  women !  " 


CHAPTEK  VI 

THE    PEOBLEM   OF    GETTING  SOMEWHERE 

AWN  came  tardily  after  a  long,  cheerless 
night,  during  which  the  wind  whined  over  the 
prairie  and  the  stars  showed  dimly  through  a  shifting 
veil  of  low-sweeping  clouds.  Ford  had  not  slept 
much,  for  hunger  and  cold  make  poor  bedfellows,  and 
all  the  brush  he  could  glean  on  that  barren  hillside, 
with  the  added  warmth  of  his  saddle-blanket  wrapped 
about  him,  could  no  more  make  him  comfortable  than 
could  cigarettes  still  the  gnawing  of  his  hunger. 

When  he  could  see  across  the  coulee,  he  rose  from 
where  he  had  been  sitting  with  his  back  to  the  ledge 
and  his  feet  to  the  meager  fire,  brooding  over  all  the 
unpleasant  elements  in  his  life  thus  far,  particularly 
the  feminine  element.  He  folded  the  saddle-blanket 
along  its  original  creases  and  went  over  to  where 
Rambler  stood  dispiritedly  with  his  back  humped  to 
the  cold,  creeping  wind  and  his  tail  whipping  between 


90        THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

his  legs  when  a  sudden  gust  played  with  it.  Ford 
shivered,  and  beat  his  gloved  hands  about  his  body, 
and  looked  up  at  the  sky  to  see  whether  the  sun  would 
presently  shine  and  send  a  little  warmth  to  this 
bleak  land  where  he  wandered.  He  blamed  the  girl 
for  all  of  this  discomfort,  and  he  told  himself  that 
the  next  time  a  woman  appeared  within  his  range 
of  vision  he  would  ride  way  around  her.  They 
invariably  brought  trouble;  of  various  sorts  and  de- 
grees, it  is  true,  but  trouble  always.  It  was  per- 
fectly safe,  he  decided,  to  bank  on  that.  And  he 
wished,  more  than  ever,  that  he  had  not  improvi- 
dently  given  that  pint  of  whisky  to  a  disconsolate- 
looking  sheep-herder  he  had  met  the  day  before  on  his 
way  out  from  town ;  or  that  he  had  put  two  flasks  in 
his  pocket  instead  of  one.  In  his  opinion  a  good, 
big  jolt  right  now  would  make  a  new  man  of  him. 

Rambler,  as  he  had  half  expected,  was  obliged  to 
do  his  walking  with  three  legs  only;  which  is  awk- 
ward for  a  horse  accustomed  to  four  exceedingly 
limber  ones,  and  does  not  make  for  speed,  however 
great  one's  hurry.     Ford  walked  around  him  twice, 


THE   PROBLEM  91 

scooped  water  in  his  hands,  and  once  more  bathed 
the  shoulder  —  not  that  he  had  any  great  faith  in 
cold  water  as  a  liniment,  but  because  there  was  noth- 
ing else  that  he  could  do,  and  his  anxiety  and  his  pity 
impelled  service  of  some  sort.  He  rubbed  until  his 
fingers  were  numb  and  his  arm  aching,  tried  him 
again,  and  gave  up  all  hope  of  leading  the  horse  to 
a  ranch.  A  mile  he  might  manage,  if  he  had  to; 
but  ten  !  He  rubbed  Rambler's  nose  commiseratingly, 
straightened  his  forelock,  told  him  over  and  over 
that  it  was  a  darned  shame,  anyway,  and  finally 
turned  to  pick  up  his  saddle.  He  could  not  leave  that 
lying  on  the  prairie  for  inquisitive  kit-foxes  to  chew 
into  shoestrings,  however  much  he  might  dread  the 
forty-pound  burden  of  it  on  his  shoulders.  He  was 
stooping  to  pick  it  up  when  he  saw  a  bit  of  paper 
twisted  and  tied  to  the  saddle-horn  with  a  red  ribbon. 
"  Lordy  me!"  he  ejaculated  ironically.  "The 
lady  left  a  note  on  my  pillow  —  and  I  never  received 
it  in  time !  Now,  ain't  that  a  darned  shame  ?  "  He 
plucked  the  knot  loose,  and  held  up  the  ribbon  and 
the  note,  and  laughed. 


92        THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 


u  c 


When  this  reaches  you,  I  shall  be  far  away, 
though  it  breaks  my  heart  to  go  and  this  missive  is 
mussed  up  scandalous  with  my  bitter  tears.  Forgive 
me  if  you  can,  and  forget  me  if  you  have  to.  It 
is  better  thus,  for  it  could  n't  otherwise  was/  "  he 
improvised  mockingly,  while  his  chilled  fingers  fum- 
bled to  release  the  paper,  which  was  evidently  a  leaf 
torn  from  a  man's  memorandum  book.  "  Lordy  me, 
a  letter  from  a  lady !    Ain't  that  sweet !  " 

When  he  read  it,  however,  the  smile  vanished  with 
a  click  of  the  teeth  which  betrayed  his  returning 
anger.  One  cold,  curt  sentence  bidding  him  wait 
until  help  came  —  that  was  all.  His  eye  measured 
accusingly  the  wide  margin  left  blank  under  the 
words;  she  had  not  omitted  apology  or  explanation 
for  lack  of  space,  at  any  rate.  His  face  grew  cyn- 
ically amused  again. 

"Oh,  certainly!  I'd  roost  on  this  side-hill  for 
a  month,  if  a  lady  told  me  to,"  he  sneered,  speaking 
aloud  as  he  frequently  did  in  the  solitude  of  the 
range  land.  He  glanced  from  ribbon  to  note,  ended 
his  indecision  by  stuffing  the  note  carelessly  into  his 


THE   PROBLEM  93 

coat  pocket  and  letting  the  ribbon  drop  to  the  ground, 
and  with  a  curl  of  the  lips  which  betrayed  his  mental 
attitude  toward  all  women  and  particularly  toward 
that  woman,  picked  up  his  saddle. 

"  I  can't  seem  to  recollect  asking  that  lady  for  help, 
anyway,"  he  summed  up  before  he  dismissed  the  sub- 
ject from  his  mind  altogether.  "  I  was  trying  to 
help  her ;  it  sure  takes  a  woman  to  twist  things  around 
so  they  point  backwards  !  " 

He  turned  and  glanced  pityingly  at  Kambler, 
watching  him  with  ears  perked  forward  inquiringly. 
"  And  I  crippled  a  damned  good  horse  trying  to 
help  a  blamed  poor  specimen  of  a  woman ! ,:  he 
gritted.  "  And  did  n't  get  so  much  as  a  pleasant 
word  for  it.     I  '11  sure  remember  that !  " 

Eambler  whinnied  after  him  wistfully,  and  Ford 
set  his  teeth  hard  together  and  walked  the  faster, 
his  shoulders  slightly  bent  under  the  weight  of  the 
saddle.  His  own  physical  discomfort  was  nothing, 
beside  the  hurt  of  leaving  his  horse  out  there  prac- 
tically helpless;  for  a  moment  his  fingers  rested  upon 
the  butt  of  his  six-shooter,  while  he  considered  going 


94       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

back  and  putting  an  end  to  life  and  misery  for  Ram- 
bler. But  for  all  the  hardness  men  had  found  in 
Ford  Campbell,  he  was  woman-weak  where  his  horse 
was  concerned.  With  cold  reason  urging  him,  he  laid 
the  saddle  on  the  ground  and  went  back,  his  hand 
clutching  grimly  the  gun  at  his  hip.  Rambler's 
nicker  of  welcome  stopped  him  half-way  and  held 
him  there,  hot  with  guilt. 

"  Oh,  damn  it,  I  can't !  "  he  muttered  savagely, 
and  retraced  his  steps  to  where  the  saddle  lay.  After 
that  he  almost  trotted  down  the  coulee,  and  he  would 
not  look  back  again  until  it  struck  him  as  odd  that 
the  nickerings  of  the  horse  did  not  grow  perceptibly 
fainter.  With  a  queer  gripping  of  the  muscles  in  his 
throat  he  did  turn,  then,  and  saw  Rambler's  head 
over  the  little  ridge  he  had  just  crossed.  The  horse 
was  making  shift  to  follow  him  rather  than  be  left 
alone  in  that  strange  country.  Ford  waited,  his 
lashes  glistening  in  the  first  rays  of  the  new-risen 
sun,  until  the  horse  came  hobbling  stiffly  up  to  him. 

"  You  old  devil !  "  he  murmured  then,  his  contrite 
tone  contrasting  oddly  with  the  words  he  used.    "  You 


THE   PROBLEM  95 

contrary,  ornery,  old  devil,  you !  "  lie  repeated 
softly,  rubbing  tbe  speckled  nose  with  more  affection 
than  he  had  ever  shown  a  woman.  "  You  'd  tag 
along,  if  —  if  you  did  n't  have  but  one  leg  to  carry 
you !  And  I  was  going  to  —  "  He  could  not  bring 
himself  to  confess  his  meditated  deed  of  mercy;  it 
seemed  black-hearted  treachery,  now,  and  he  stood 
ashamed  and  humbled  before  the  dumb  brute  that 
nuzzled  him  with  such  implicit  faith. 

It  was  slow  journeying,  after  that.  Ford  carried 
the  saddle  on  his  own  back  rather  than  burden  the 
horse  with  it,  and  hungry  as  he  was,  he  stopped  often 
and  long,  and  massaged  the  sprained  shoulder  faith- 
fully while  Kambler  rested  it,  with  all  his  weight  on 
his  other  legs  and  his  nose  rooting  gently  at  Ford's 
bowed  head. 

A  stray  rider  assured  him  that  he  was  on  the  right 
trail,  but  it  was  past  noon  when  he  thankfully  reached 
the  Double  Cross,  threw  his  saddle  down  beside  the 
stable  door,  and  gave  Rambler  a  chance  at  the  hay 
in  the  corral. 


«  i 


CHAPTER  VII 

t 

THE    FOREMAN    OF   THE   DOUBLE    CROSS 

"W  ELL-O,  Ford,  where  the  blazes  did  you  drop 
■*-  -^  down  from  ?  "  a  welcoming  voice  yelled, 
when  he  was  closing  the  gate  of  the  corral  behind 
him  and  thinking  that  it  was  like  Ches  Mason  to 
have  a  fine,  strong  corral  and  gate,  and  then  slur 
the  details  by  using  a  piece  of  baling  wire  to  fasten 
it.  The  last  ounce  of  disgust  with  life  slid  from 
his  mind  when  he  heard  the  greeting,  and  he  turned 
and  gripped  hard  the  gloved  hand  thrust  toward  him. 
Ches  Mason  it  was  —  the  same  old  Ches,  with  the 
same  humorous  wrinkles  around  his  eyes  and  mouth, 
the  same  kindliness,  the  same  hearty  faith  in  the 
world  as  he  knew  it  and  in  his  fellowmen  as  he 
found  them  —  the  unquestioning  faith  that  takes  it 
for  granted  that  the  other  fellow  is  as  square  as  him- 
self.   Ford  held  his  hand  while  he  permitted  himself 


THE   FOREMAN  97 

a  swift,  reckoning  glance  which  took  in  these  familiar 
landmarks  of  the  other's  personality. 

"  Don't  seem  to  have  hurt  you  much  —  matri- 
mony," he  observed  whimsically,  as  he  dropped  the 
hand.  "  You  look  just  like  you  always  did  —  with 
your  hat  on."  In  the  West,  not  to  say  in  every  other 
locality,  there  is  a  time-honored  joke  about  matri- 
mony, for  certain  strenuous  reasons,  producing  pre- 
mature baldness. 

Ches  grinned  and  removed  his  hat.  Eight  years 
had  heightened  his  forehead  perceptibly  and  thinned 
the  hair  on  his  temples.  "  You  see  what  it 's  done 
to  me,"  he  pointed  out  lugubriously.  "  You  ain't 
married  yourself,  I  suppose  ?  You  look  like  you  'd 
met  up  with  some  kinda  misfortune."  Mason  was 
regarding  Ford's  scarred  face  with  some  solicitude. 

"  Just  got  tangled  up  a  little  with  my  fellow- 
citizens  in  Sunset,"  Ford  explained  drily.  "  I  tried 
to  see  how  much  of  the  real  stuff  I  could  get  outside 
of,  and  then  how  many  I  could  lick."  He  shrugged 
his  shoulders  a  little.  "  I  did  quite  a  lot  of  both," 
he  added,  as  an  afterthought. 


98       THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

Mason  was  rubbing  his  jaw  reflectively  and  staring 
hard  at  Ford.  "  The  wife  's  strong  on  the  temper- 
ance dope,"  he  said  hesitatingly.  "  I  reckon  yon  '11 
want  to  bunk  down  with  the  boys  till  you  grow  some 
hide  on  your  face  —  there's  lady  company  up  at  the 
house,  and  —  " 

"  The  bunk-house  for  mine,  then,"  Ford  cut  in 
hastily.  "  ISTo  lady  can  get  within  gunshot  of  me ; 
not  if  I  see  her  coming  in  time !  "  Though  he  smiled 
when  he  said  it,  there  was  meaning  behind  the  mirth. 

Mason  pulled  a  splinter  from  a  corral  rail  and 
began  to  snap  off  little  bits  with  his  fingers.  "  Kate 
will  go  straight  up  in  the  air  with  me  if  she  knows 
you  're  here  and  won't  come  to  the  house,  though," 
he  considered  uneasily.  "  She  's  kept  a  big  package 
of  gratitude  tucked  away  with  your  name  on  it,  ever 
since  that  Alaska  deal.  And  lemme  tell  you,  Ford, 
when  a  woman  as  good  as  Kate  goes  and  gets  grate- 
ful to  a  man  —  gosh !    Had  your  dinner  ?  " 

"  Not  lately,  I  have  n't,"  Ford  declared.  "  I  kinda 
remember  eating,  some  time  in  the  past ;  it  was  a  long 
time  ago,  though." 


THE   FOREMAN  99 

Mason  laughed  and.  tagged  the  answer  as  being 
the  natural  exaggeration  of  a  hungry  man.  "  Well, 
come  along  and  eat,  then  —  if  you  have  n't  forgotten 
how  to  make  your  jaws  go.  I  've  got  Mose  Freeman 
cooking  for  me ;  you  know  Mose,  don't  you  ?  Hired 
him  the  day  after  the  Fourth ;  the  Mitten  outfit  fired 
him  for  getting  soused  and  trying  to  clean  out  the 
camp,  and  I  nabbed  him  before  they  had  time  to 
forgive  him.  Way  they  had  of  disciplining  him  — 
when  he  'd  go  on  a  big  tear  they  'd  fire  him  for  a 
few  days  and  then  take  him  back.  But  they  can't 
git  him  now  —  not  if  I  can  help  it.  A  better  cook 
never  throwed  dishwater  over  a  guy-rope  than  that 
same  old  Mose,  but  —  "  He  stopped  and  looked  at 
Ford  hesitantly.  "  Say !  I  hate  like  the  deuce  to 
tie  a  string  on  you  as  soon  as  you  hit  the  ranch, 
Ford,  but  —  if  you  've  got  anything  along,  you  won't 
ring  it  on  Mose,  will  you?  A  fellow's  got  to 
watch  him  pretty  close,  or  —  " 

'  I  have  n't  got  a  drop."  Ford's  tone  was  reprc- 
hensibly  regretful. 

'  You  do  look  as  if  you  'd  put  it  all  under  your 


100     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

belt,"  Mason  retorted  dryly.  "  Left  anything  be- 
hind?" 

"  Some  spoiled  beauties,  and  a  nice  new  jail  that 
was  built  by  my  admiring  townspeople,  with  my 
name  carved  over  the  door.  I  did  n't  stay  for  the 
dedication  services.  Sunset  was  getting  all  fussed  up 
over  me  and  I  thought  I  'd  give  them  a  chance  to 
settle  their  nerves ;  loss  of  sleep  sure  plays  hell  with 
folks  when  their  nerves  are  getting  frazzly."  He 
smiled  disarmingly  at  Mason. 

"  I  'd  kinda  lost  track  of  you,  dies,  till  I  got  your 
letter.  I  've  been  traveling  pretty  swift,  and  that 's 
no  lie.  I  meant  to  write,  but  —  vou  know  how  a 
man  gets  to  putting  things  off.  And  then  I  took  a 
notion  to  ride  over  this  way,  and  sample  your  grub 
for  a  day  or  so,  and  abuse  you  a  little  to  your  face, 
you  old  highbinder !  " 

"  Sure.    I  've  been  kinda  looking  for  you,  too.    But 

—  I  wish  you  had  n't  quite  so  big  an  assortment  of 
battle-signs,  Ford.     Kate  's  got  ideals  and  prejudices 

—  and  she  don't  know  all  your  little  personal  traits. 
She  's  heard  a  lot  about  you,  of  course.    We  was  mar- 


THE   FOREMAN  101 

ried  right  after  we  came  outa  the  North,  you  know, 
and  of  course  —  Well,  you  know  how  a  woman  sops 
up  adventure  stories;  and  seeing  you  was  the  star 
performer  —  " 

"  And  that  's  a  lie,"  Ford  put  in  modestly,  albeit 
a  trifle  bluntly. 

"  ~No,  it  ain't.  She  got  the  truth.  And  she  's  so 
darned  grateful,"  he  added  lugubriously,  "  that  I 
don't  know  how  to  square  your  record  with  that  face ! 
Unless  we  can  rig  up  some  yarn  about  a  holdup  —  " 
He  paused  just  outside  the  mess-house  door  and  eyed 
Ford  questioningly.     "  We  might  —  " 

"  ~No,  you  don't.  If  you  've  gone  and  lied  to  her, 
and  made  me  out  a  little  tin  angel,  you  deserve 
what 's  coming.  Anyway,  I  won't  stay  long,  and 
I  '11  stop  down  here  with  the  boys.  Call  me  Jack 
Jones  and  let  it  go  at  that.  Honest,  Ches,  I  don't 
want  to  get  mixed  up  with  no  more  females.  I  'm 
plumb  scared  of  'em.  Lordy  me,  that  coffee  sure 
does  smell  good  to  me !  " 

Mason  looked  at  him  doubtfully,  saw  that  Ford 
was,  for  the  time  being,  absolutely  devoid  of  any- 


102      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

thing  remotely  approaching  penitence  for  his  sins, 
or  compunction  over  his  appearance,  or  uneasiness 
over  "  Kate's  "  opinion  of  him.  He  was  hungry. 
And  since  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  whip  up  the 
conscience  of  a  man  whose  thoughts  are  concentrated 
upon  his  physical  needs,  Mason  was  wise  enough  to 
wait,  though  the  one  point  which  he  considered  of 
vital  importance  to  them  both  —  the  question  of 
Ford's  acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  foremanship  of 
the  Double  Cross  —  had  not  yet  been  touched  upon. 

While  Ford  ate  with  a  controlled  voraciousness 
which  spoke  eloquently  of  his  twenty-four  hours  of 
fasting  and  exposure,  Mason  gossiped  inattentively 
and  studied  the  man. 

Eight  years  leave  their  impress  of  mental  growth 
or  deterioration  upon  a  man.  Outwardly  Ford 
was  not  much  changed  since  Mason  had  come  with 
him  out  of  Alaska  and  lost  sight  of  him  afterwards. 
There  was  the  maturity  which  the  man  of  thirty  pos- 
sessed and  which  the  virile  young  fellow  of  twenty- 
one  had  lacked.  There  was  the  same  straight  glance, 
the  same  atmosphere  of  squareness  and  mental  poise. 


THE   FOREMAN  103 

Those  were  qualities  which  Mason  set  down  as  val- 
uable factors  in  his  estimate  of  the  man.  Besides, 
there  were  other  signs  which  did  not  make  so  pleasant 
a  reading. 

Eight  years  —  and  a  few  of  them,  at  least,  had 
been  spent  wastefully  in  tearing  down  what  the  other 
roars  had  built;  Mason  had  heard  that  Ford  was 
"  going  to  the  dogs,"  and  that  by  the  short  trail  men 
blazed  for  themselves  centuries  as-o  and  which  those 
who  came  after  have  made  a  highway  —  the  whisky 
trail.  Mason  had  heard,  now  and  then,  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  coming  to  Ford  upon  the  death  of  his 
father  and  going  almost  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come. 
That,  at  least,  had  been  the  rumor.  Also  he  had 
heard,  just  lately,  that  Ford  had  taken  to  gambling 
as  a  profession  and  to  terrorizing  Sunset  periodically 
as  a  pastime.  And  Mason  remembered  the  Ford 
Campbell  who  had  carried  him  on  his  back  out  of 
;i  v.ild  place  in  Alaska,  and  had  nearly  starved  him- 
self that  the  sick  man's  strength  might  not  fail  him 
utterly.  He  had  remembered  —  had  dies  Mason  ; 
and,  being  one  of  those  tenacious  sonls  who  cling  to 


104      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

friendship  and  to  a  resilient  faith  in  the  good  that 
is  in  the  worst  of  us,  he  had  thrown  out  a  tentative 
life-line,  as  it  were,  and  hoped  that  Ford  might 
clutch  it  before  he  became  quite  submerged  in  the 
sodden  morass  of  inebriety. 

Ford  may  or  may  not  have  grasped  eagerly  at  the 
line.  At  any  rate  he  was  there  in  the  mess-house  of 
the  Double  Cross,  and  he  was  not  quite  so  sodden  as 
Mason  had  feared  to  find  him  —  provided  he  found 
him  at  all.  So  much,  at  least,  was  encouraging,  and 
for  the  rest,  Mason  was  content  to  wait. 

Mose,  recognizing  Ford  at  once,  had  asked  him, 
with  a  comical  attempt  at  secrecy,  if  he  had  anything 
to  drink.  When  Ford  shook  his  head,  Mose  stifled  a 
sigh  and  went  back  to  his  dishwashing,  not  more  than 
half  convinced  and  inclined  toward  resent  fulness. 
That  a  "  booze-fighter  "  like  Ford  Campbell  should 
come  only  a  day's  ride  from  town  and  not  be  fairly 
well  supplied  with  whisky  was  too  remarkable  to 
be  altogether  plausible.  He  eyed  the  two  sourly  while 
they  talked,  and  he  did  not  bring  forth  one  of  the 
fresh  pies  he  had  baked,  as  he  had  meant  to  do. 


THE    FOREMAN  105 

It  was  not  until  Ford  was  ready  to  light  his  after- 
dinner  cigarette  that  Mason  led  the  way  into  the 
next  room,  which  held  the  bunks  and  general  belong- 
ings of  the  men,  and  closed  the  door  so  that  they 
might  talk  in  confidence  without  fear  of  Mose's  loose 
tongue.  Ford  immediately  pulled  off  his  boots,  laid 
himself  down  upon  one  of  the  bunks,  doubled  a  pillow 
under  his  head,  and  began  to  eye  Mason  quizzically. 
Then  he  said : 

"  Say,  you  kinda  played  your  hand  face  down, 
did  n't  you,  Ches,  when  you  wrote  and  asked  me  to 
come  out  here  and  take  charge?  Eight  years  is  a 
long  time  to  expect  a  man  to  stay  right  where  he  was 
when  you  saw  him  last.  You  've  lost  a  whole  lot  of 
horse  sense  since  I  knew  you." 

"  Well,  what  about  it  ?  You  came,  I  notice." 
Mason  grinned  and  would  not  help  Ford  otherwise 
to  an  understanding. 

"  I  did  n't  come  to  hog-tie  that  foreman  job,  you 
chump.  I  just  merely  want  to  tell  you  that  you  '11  get 
into  all  kinds  of  trouble,  some  day,  if  you  go  laying 
yourself  wide  open  like  that.    Why,  it 's  plumb  crazy 


106      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

to  offer  a  job  like  that  to  a  fellow  you  have  n't  seen 
for  as  long  as  you  have  me.  And  if  you  heard  any- 
thing about  me,  it  's  a  cinch  it  was  n't  what  would 
recommend  me  to  any  Sunday-school  as  a  teacher 
of  their  Bible  class !  How  did  you  know  I  would  n't 
take  it  ?    And  let  you  in  for  —  " 

"  Well,  you  're  here,  and  I  've  seen  you.  The 
job  's  still  waiting  for  you.  You  can  start  right  in, 
to-morrow  morning."  Ches  got  out  his  pipe  and 
began  to  fill  it  as  calmly  and  with  as  much  attention 
to  the  small  details  as  if  he  were  not  mentally  tensed 
for  the  struggle  he  knew  was  coming;  a  struggle 
which  struck  much  deeper  than  the  position  he  was 
offering  Ford. 

Ford  almost  dropped  his  cigarette  in  his  astonish- 
ment. "  Well,  you  damn'  fool !  "  he  ejaculated  pity- 
ingly. 

"  Why  ?  I  thought  you  knew  enough  —  you 
punched  cows  for  the  Circle  for  four  or  five  years, 
did  n't  you  ?  Nelson  told  me  you  were  his  top  hand 
while  you  stayed  with  him,  and  that  you  ran  the 
outfit  one  whole  summer,  when  —  " 


THE   FOREMAN  107 

"  That  ain't  the  point."  A  hot  look  had  crept  into 
Ford's  face  —  a  tinge  which  was  not  a  flush  —  and 
a  glow  into  his  eyes.  "  I  know  the  cow-business, 
far  as  that  goes.  It 's  me ;  you  can't  —  why,  Lordy 
me!  You  ought  to  be  sent  to  Sulphur  Springs 
and  get  your  think-tank  hoed  out.  Any  man  that 
will  offer  a  foreman's  job  to  a  —  a  —  " 

"  '  A  rooting,  tooting,  shooting,  fighting  son-of-a- 
gun,  and  a  good  one ! ' "  assisted  Mason  equably. 
"  '  The  only  original  go-getter  — '  Sure.  That 's  all 
right." 

The  flush  came  slowly  and  darkened  Ford's  cheeks 
and  brow  and  throat.  He  threw  his  half-smoked 
cigarette  savagely  at  the  hearth  of  the  rusty  box- 
stove,  and  scowled  at  the  place  where  it  fell.  "  Well, 
ain't  that  reason  enough  ?  "  he  demanded  harshly, 
after  a  minute. 

Mason  had  been  studying  that  flush.  He  nodded 
assent  to  some  question  he  had  put  to  himself,  and 
crowded  tobacco  into  his  pipe.  "  ISJo  reason  at  all,  one 
way  or  the  other.  I  need  a  foreman  —  one  I  can 
depend  on.    I  've  got  to  make  a  trip  out  to  the  Coast, 


108      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

this  fall,  and  I  've  got  to  leave  somebody  here  I  can 
trust." 

Ford  shot  him  a  quick,  questioning  glance,  and 
bit  his  lip.  "  That,"  he  said  more  calmly,  "  is  just 
what  I  'm  driving  at.  You  can't  trust  me.  You 
can't  depend  on  me,  Ches." 

"  Oh,  yes  I  can,"  Mason  contradicted  blandly. 
"  It 's  just  because  I  can  that  I  want  you." 

"  You  can't.  You  know  damn'  well  you  can't ! 
Why,  you  —  don't  you  know  I  've  got  the  name  of 
being  a  drunkard,  and  a  —  a  bad  actor  all  around  ? 
I  'm  not  like  I  was  eight  years  ago,  remember.  I  've 
traveled  a  hard  old  trail  since  we  bucked  the  snow 
together,  Ches  —  and  it 's  been  mostly  down  grade. 
I  was  all  right  for  awhile,  and  then  I  got  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  it  seemed  a  lot  of  money.  I  bought 
a  fellow  out  —  he  had  a  ranch  and  a  few  head  of 
horses  —  so  he  could  take  his  wife  back  East  to  her 
mother.  She  was  sick.  I  did  n't  want  the  darned 
ranch.  And  so  help  me,  Ches,  that 's  the  only  thing 
I  've  done  in  the  last  four  years  that  I  had  n't  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of.    The  rest  of  the  money  I  just  sim- 


THE   FOREMAN  109 

ply  blew.  I  —  well,  you  see  me ;  you  did  n't  want 
to  take  me  up  to  the  house  to  meet  your  wife,  and 
I  don't  blame  you.  You  'd  be  a  chump  if  you  did. 
And  this  is  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary.  I  've  got 
my  face  bunged  up  half  the  time,  seems  like."  lie 
thumped  the  pillow  into  a  different  position,  settled 
his  head  against  it,  and  looked  at  Mason  with  his 
old,  whimsical  smile.  "  So  when  you  talk  about  that 
foreman  job,  and  depending  on  me,  you  're  —  plumb 
delirious.  I  was  going  to  write  and  tell  you  so,  but 
I  kept  putting  it  off.  And  then  I  took  a  notion  I  'd 
hunt  you  up  and  give  you  some  good  advice.  You  're 
a  good  fellow,  Ches,  but  the  court  ought  to  appoint 
a  guardian  for  you." 

"  I  '11  stick  around  for  three  or  four  weeks," 
Mason  observed,  in  the  casual  tone  of  one  who  is 
merely  discussing  the  details  of  an  everyday  affair, 
"  till  the  calves  are  all  gathered.  We  're  a  little  late 
this  year,  on  account  of  old  Slow  dying  right  in 
round-up  time.  We  got  most  of  the  beef  shipped  — 
all  I  care  about  gathering,  this  fall.  I  've  got  most 
all  young  stock,  and  it  won't  hurt  to  let  'em  run 


110     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

another  season ;  there  ain't  many.  I  '11  let  you  take 
the  wagons  out,  and  I  '11  go  with  you  till  you  get 
kinda  harness-broke.    And  —  " 

"  I  told  you  I  don't  want  the  job."  Ford's  mouth 
was  set  grimly. 

"  You  tried  to  tell  me  what  I  want  and  what  I  don't 
want,"  Mason  corrected  amiably.  "  Now  I  've  got 
my  own  ideas  on  that  subject.  This  here  outfit  be- 
longs to  me.  I  like  to  pick  my  men  to  suit  myself; 
and  if  I  want  a  certain  man  for  foreman,  I  guess 
I  've  got  a  right  to  hire  him  —  if  he  '11  let  himself 
be  hired.  I  've  picked  my  man.  It  don't  make  any 
difference  to  me  how  many  times  he  played  hookey 
when  he  was  a  kid,  or  how  many  men  he  's  licked 
since  he  growed  up.  I  've  hired  him  to  help  run 
the  Double  Cross,  and  run  it  right ;  and  I  ain't  a  bit 
afraid  but  what  he  '11  make  good."  He  smiled  and 
knocked  the  ashes  gently  from  his  pipe  into  the  palm 
of  his  hand,  because  the  pipe  was  a  meerschaum  just 
getting  a  fine,  fawn  coloring  around  the  base  of  the 
bowl,  and  was  dear  to  the  heart  of  him.  "  Down  to 
the  last,  white  chip,"  he  added  slowly,  "  he  '11  make 


THE    FOREMAN  111 

good.  He  ain't  the  kind  of  a  man  that  will  lay 
down  on  his  job."  He  got  up  and  yawned,  elab- 
orately casual  in  his  manner. 

"  You  lay  around  and  take  it  easy  this  afternoon," 
he  said.  "  I  Ve  got  to  jog  over  to  the  river  field ;  the 
boys  are  over  there,  working  a  little  bunch  we  threw 
in  yesterday.  To-morrow  we  can  ride  around  a  little, 
and  kinda  get  the  lay  of  the  land.  You  better  go 
by-low,  right  now  —  you  look  as  if  it  would  n't  do 
you  any  harm !  "  Whereupon  he  wisely  took  him- 
self off  and  left  Ford  alone. 

The  door  he  pulled  shut  after  him  closed  upon  a 
mental  battle-ground.  Ford  did  not  go  "by-low." 
Instead,  he  rolled  over  and  lay  with  his  face  upon 
his  folded  arms,  alive  to  the  finger-tips;  alive  and 
fighting.  For  there  are  times  when  the  soul  of  a 
man  awakes  and  demands  a  reckoning,  and  reviews 
pitilessly  the  past  and  faces  the  future  with  the  veil 
of  illusion  torn  quite  away  —  and  does  it  whether 
the  man  will  or  no. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

"  I   WISH    YOU  'D    QUIT    BELIEVING    IN    ME  !  " 

A  DISTANT  screaming  roused  Ford  from  his 
bitter  mood  of  introspection.  He  raised  his 
head  and  listened,  his  heavy-lidded  eyes  staring 
blankly  at  the  wall  opposite,  before  he  sprang  off 
the  bunk,  pulled  on  his  boots,  and  rushed  from  the 
room.  Outside,  he  hesitated  long  enough  to  discover 
which  direction  he  must  take  to  reach  the  woman 
who  was  screaming  inarticulately,  her  voice  vibrant 
with  sheer  terror.  The  sound  came  from  the  little, 
brown  cottage  that  seemed  trying  modestly  to  hide 
behind  a  dispirited  row  of  young  cottonwoods  across 
a  deep,  narrow  gully,  and  he  ran  headlong  toward 
it.  He  crossed  the  plank  footbridge  in  a  couple  of 
long  leaps,  vaulted  over  the  gate  which  barred  his 
way,  and  so  reached  the  house  just  as  a  woman  whom 
he  knew  must  be  Mason's  "  Kate,"  jerked  open  the 


«  - 


QUIT   BELIEVING!"      113 

door  and  screamed  "  Chester !  "  almost  in  his  face. 
Behind  her  rolled  a  puff  of  slaty  blue  smoke. 

Ford  pushed  past  her  in  the  doorway  without 
speaking;  the  smoke  told  its  own  urgent  tale  and 
made  words  superfluous.  She  turned  and  followed 
him,  choking  over  the  pungent  smoke. 

"  Oh,  where  's  Chester  ?  "  she  wailed.  "  The  whole 
garret 's  on  fire  —  and  I  can't  carry  Phenie  —  and 
she  's  asleep  and  can't  walk  anyway ! ':  She  rushed 
half  across  the  room  and  stopped,  pointing  toward  a 
closed  door,  with  Ford  at  her  heels. 

"  She  's  in  there !  "  she  cried  tragically.  "  Save 
her,  quick  —  and  I  '11  find  Chester.  You  'd  think, 
with  all  the  men  there  are  on  this  ranch,  there  'd 
be  some  one  around  —  oh,  and  my  new  piano ! ' 

She  ran  out  of  the  house,  scolding  hysterically  be- 
cause the  men  were  gone,  and  Ford  laughed  a  little 
as  he  went  to  the  door  she  had  indicated.  When  his 
fingers  touched  the  knob,  it  turned  fumblingly  under 
another  hand  than  his  own;  the  door  opened,  and  he 
confronted  the  girl  whom  he  had  tried  to  befriend  the 
day  before.     She  had  evidently  just  gotten  out  of 


114      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

bed,  and  into  a  flimsy  blue  kimono,  which  she  was 
holding  together  at  the  throat  with  one  hand,  while 
with  the  other  she  steadied  herself  against  the  wall. 
She  stared  blankly  into  his  eyes,  and  her  face  was 
very  white  indeed,  with  her  hair  falling  thickly  upon 
either  side  in  two  braids  which  reached  to  her  hips. 
Ford  gave  her  one  quick,  startled  glance,  said 
"  Come  on,"  quite  brusquely,  and  gathered  her  into 
his  arms  with  as  little  sentiment  as  he  would  have 
bestowed  upon  the  piano.  His  eyes  smarted  with  the 
smoke,  which  blinded  him  so  that  he  bumped  into 
chairs  on  his  way  to  the  door.  Outside  he  stopped, 
and  looked  down  at  the  girl,  wondering  what  he 
should  do  with  her.  Since  Kate  had  stated  em- 
phatically that  she  could  not  walk,  it  seemed  scarcely 
merciful  to  deposit  her  on  the  ground  and  leave  her 
to  her  own  devices.  She  had  closed  her  eyes,  and 
she  looked  unpleasantly  like  a  corpse ;  and  there  was 
an  insistent  crackling  up  in  the  roof,  which  warned 
Ford  that  there  was  little  time  for  the  weighing  of 
fine  points.  He  was  about  to  lay  her  on  the  bare 
ground,  for  want  of  a  better  place,  when  he  glimpsed 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      115 

Mose  running  heavily  across  the  bridge,  and  went 
hurriedly  to  meet  him. 

"  Here !  You  take  her  down  and  put  her  in  one 
of  the  bunks,  Mose,"  he  commanded,  when  Mose  con- 
fronted him,  panting  a  good  deal  because  of  his  two- 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  excess  fat  and  a  pair  of 
down-at-the-heel  slippers  which  hampered  his  move- 
ments appreciably.  Mose  looked  at  the  girl  and  then 
at  his  two  hands. 

"  I  can't  take  her,"  he  lamented.  "  I  got  m'  hands 
full  of  aigs !  " 

Ford's  reply  was  a  sweep  of  the  girl's  inert  figure 
against  Mose's  outstretched  hands,  which  freed  them 
effectually  of  their  burden  of  eggs.  "You  darned 
chump,  what 's  eggs  in  a  case  like  this  ?  "  he  cried 
sharply,  and  forced  the  girl  into  his  arms.  "  You 
take  her  and  put  her  on  a  bunk.  I  've  got  to  put  out 
that  fire !  " 

So  Mose,  a  reluctant  knight  and  an  awkward  one, 
carried  the  girl  to  the  bunk-house,  and  left  Ford  free 
to  save  the  house  if  he  could.  Fortunately  the  fire 
had  started  in  a  barrel  of  old  clothing  which  had 


116      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

stood  too  close  to  the  stovepipe,  and  while  the  smoke 
was  stifling,  the  flames  were  as  yet  purely  local.  And, 
more  fortunately  still,  that  day  happened  to  be  Mrs. 
Mason's  wash-day  and  two  tubs  of  water  stood  in  the 
kitchen,  close  to  the  narrow  stairway  which  led  into 
the  loft.  Three  or  four  pails  of  water  and  some  quick 
work  in  running  up  and  down  the  stairs  was  all  that 
was  needed.  Ford,  standing  in  the  low,  unfinished 
loft,  looked  at  the  rafter  which  was  burnt  half 
through,  and  wiped  his  perspiring  face  with  his  coat 
sleeve. 

"  Lordy  me !  "  he  observed  aloud,  "  I  sure  did  n't 
come  any  too  soon !  " 

"  Oh,  it 's  all  out !  I  don't  know  how  I  ever  shall 
thank  you  in  this  world !  With  Phenie  in  bed  with 
a  sprained  ankle  so  she  could  n't  walk,  and  the  men 
all  gone,  I  was  just  wild!  I  —  why  —  "  Kate, 
standing  upon  the  stairs  so  that  she  could  look  into 
the  loft,  stopped  suddenly  and  stared  at  Ford  with 
some  astonishment.  Plainly,  she  had  but  then  dis- 
covered that  he  was  a  stranger  —  and  it  was  quite 
as  plain  that  she  was  taking  stock  of  his  blackened 


(  i 


QUIT   BELIEVING!"      117 

eyes  and  other  bruises,  and  that  with  the  sheltered 
woman's  usual  tendency  to  exaggerate  the  disfigure- 
ments. 

"  That 's  all  right ;  I  don't  need  any  thanks." 
Ford,  seeing  no  other  way  of  escape,  approached  her 
steadily,  the  empty  bucket  swinging  in  his  hand. 
"  The  fire  's  all  out,  so  there  's  nothing  more  I  can 
do  here,  I  guess." 

"  Oh,  but  you  '11  have  to  bring  Josephine  back !  " 
Kate's  eyes  met  his  straightforward  glance  reluc- 
tantly, and  not  without  reason;  for  Ford  had  dark, 
greenish  purple  areas  in  the  region  of  his  eyes,  a 
skinned  cheek,  and  a  swollen  lip;  his  chin  was 
scratched  and  there  was  a  bruise  on  his  forehead 
where,  on  the  night  of  his  marriage,  he  had  hit  the 
floor  violently  under  the  impact  of  two  or  three  strug- 
gling male  humans.  Although  they  were  five  days 
old  —  six,  some  of  them  —  these  divers  battle-signs 
were  perfectly  visible,  not  to  say  conspicuous;  so 
that  Kate  Mason  was  perhaps  justified  in  her  per- 
fectly apparent  diffidence  in  looking  at  him.  So 
do  we  turn  our  eyes  self-consciously  away  from  a 


118      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

cripple,  lest  we  give  offense  by  gazing  upon  his  mis- 
fortune. 

"  /  can't  carry  her,  and  she  can't  walk  —  her  ankle 
is  sprained  dreadfully.  So  if  you  '11  bring  her  back 
to  the  house,  I  '11  be  ever  so  much  —  " 

"  Certainly ;  I  '11  bring  her  back  right  away." 
Ford  came  down  the  stairs  so  swiftly  that  she  re- 
treated in  haste  before  him,  and  once  down  he  did 
not  linger;  indeed,  he  almost  ran  from  the  house 
and  from  her  embarrassed  gratitude.  On  the  way  to 
the  bunk-house  it  occurred  to  him  that  it  might  be 
no  easy  matter,  now,  for  Mason  to  conceal  Ford's 
identity  and  his  sins.  From  the  way  in  which  she 
had  stared  wincingly  at  his  battered  countenance,  he 
realized  that  she  did,  indeed,  have  ideals.  Ford 
grinned  to  himself,  wondering  if  dies  did  n't  have 
to  do  his  smoking  altogether  in  the  bunk-house;  he 
judged  her  to  be  just  the  woman  to  wage  a  war  on 
tobacco,  and  swearing,  and  muddy  boots,  and  drink- 
ing out  of  one's  saucer,  and  all  other  weaknesses  pe- 
culiar to  the  male  of  our  species.  He  was  inclined  to. 
pity  Ches,  in  spite  of  his  mental  acknowledgment 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      119 

that  she  was  a  very  nice  woman  indeed ;  and  he  was 
half  inclined  to  tell  Mason  when  he  saw  him  that  he  'd 
have  to  look  further  for  a  foreman. 

He  found  the  girl  lying  upon  a  bunk  just  inside 
the  door,  still  with  closed  eyes  and  that  corpse-like 
look  in  her  face.  He  was  guilty  of  hoping  that  she 
would  remain  in  that  oblivious  state  for  at  least  five 
minutes  longer,  but  the  hope  was  short-lived;  for 
when  he  lifted  her  carefully  in  his  arms,  her  eyes 
flew  open  and  stared  up  at  him  intently. 

Ford  shut  his  lips  grimly  and  tried  not  to  mind 
that  unwinking  gaze  while  he  carried  her  out  and 
up  the  path,  across  the  little  bridge  and  on  to  the 
house,  and  deposited  her  gently  upon  her  own  bed. 
He  had  not  spoken  a  word,  nor  had  she.  So  he  left 
her  thankfully  to  Kate's  tearful  ministrations  and 
hurried  from  the  room. 

"  Lordy  me !  "  he  sighed,  as  he  closed  the  door 
upon  them  and  went  back  to  the  bunk-house,  which 
he  entered  with  a  sigh  of  relief.  One  tribute  he  paid 
her,  and  one  only:  the  tribute  of  feeling  perturbed 
over  her  presence,  and  of  going  hot  all  over  at  the 


120      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

memory  of  her  steady  stare  into  his  face.  She  was 
a  queer  girl,  he  told  himself;  but  then,  so  far  as  he 
had  discovered,  all  women  were  queer;  the  only  dif- 
ference being  that  some  women  were  more  so  than 
others. 

He  sat  down  on  the  bunk  where  she  had  lain,  and 
speedily  forgot  the  girl  and  the  incident  in  facing 
the  problem  of  that  foremanship.  He  could  not  get 
away  from  the  conviction  that  he  was  not  to  be 
trusted.  He  did  not  trust  himself,  and  there  was  no 
reason  why  any  man  who  knew  him  at  all  should 
trust  him.  Ches  Mason  was  a  good  fellow ;  he  meant 
well,  Ford  decided,  but  he  simply  did  not  realize 
what  he  was  up  against.  He  meant,  therefore,  to 
enlighten  him  further,  and  go  his  way.  He  was  al- 
most sorry  that  he  had  come. 

Mason,  when  Ford  confronted  him  later  at  the 
corral  and  bluntly  stated  his  view  of  the  matter,  heard 
him  through  without  a  word,  and  did  not  laugh  the 
issue  out  of  the  way,  as  he  had  been  inclined  to  do 
before. 

"  I  '11  be  all  right  for  a  month,  maybe,"   Ford 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      121 

finished,  "  and  that 's  as  long  as  I  can  bank  on  my- 
self. I  tell  you  straight,  Ches,  it  won't  work.  You 
may  think  you  're  hiring  the  same  fellow  that  came 
out  of  the  North  with  you  —  but  you  are  n't.  Why, 
damn  it,  there  ain't  a  man  I  know  that  would  n't  give 
you  the  laugh  if  they  knew  the  offer  you  've  made 
me !  They  would,  that 's  a  fact.  They  'd  laugh  at 
you.  You  're  all  right,  Ches,  but  I  won't  stand  for 
a  deal  like  that.    I  can't  make  good." 

Mason  waited  until  he  was  through.  Then  he 
came  closer  and  put  both  hands  on  Ford's  shoulders, 
so  that  they  stood  face  to  face,  and  he  looked  straight 
into  Ford's  discolored  eyes  with  his  own  shining  a 
little  behind  their  encircling  wrinkles. 

'  You  can  make  good !  "  he  said  calmly.  "  I  know 
it.  All  you  need  is  a  chance  to  pull  up.  Seeing  you 
won't  give  yourself  one,  I  'm  giving  it  to  you.  You  '11 
do  for  me  what  you  won't  do  for  yourself,  Ford  — 
and  if  there  's  a  yellow  streak  in  you,  I  never  got 
a  glimpse  of  it ;  and  the  yellow  will  sure  come  to  the 
surface  of  a  man  when  he  's  bucking  a  proposition 
like  you  and  me  bucked  for  two  months.    You  did  n't 


122      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

lay  down  on  that  job,  and  you  were  just  a  kid,  you 
might  say.  Gosh,  Ford,  I  'd  bank  on  you  any  old 
time  —  put  you  on  your  mettle,  and  I  would !  You 
can  make  good  here  —  and  damn  it,  ,you  will !  " 

"  I  wish  I  was  as  sure  of  that  as  you  seem  to  be," 
Ford  muttered  uneasily,  and  turned  away.  Mason's 
easy  chuckle  followed  him,  and  Ford  swung  about 
and  faced  him  again. 

"  I  have  n't  made  any  cast-iron  promise  —  " 

"  Did  I  ask  you  to  make  any  ?  "  Mason's  voice 
sharpened. 

"  But  —  Lordy  me,  Ches !  How  do  you  know 
I—" 

"Iknow.    That 's  enough." 

"  But  —  maybe  I  don't  want  the  darned  job.  I 
never  said  —  " 

Mason  was  studying  him,  as  a  man  studies  the 
moods  of  an  untamed  horse.  "  I  did  n't  think  you  'd 
dodge,"  he  drawled,  and  the  blood  surged  answer- 
ingly  to  Ford's  cheeks.    "  You  do  want  it." 

"  If  I  should  happen  to  get  jagged  up  in  good 
shape,  about  the  first  thing  I  'd  do  would  be  to  lick 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      123 

the  stuffing  out  of  you  for  being  such  a  simple- 
minded  cuss,"  Ford  prophesied  grimly,  as  one  who 
knows  well  whereof  he  speaks. 

"  Ye-es  —  but  you  won't  get  jagged." 

"  Oh,  Lord !  I  wish  you  'd  quit  believing  in  me ! 
You  used  to  have  some  sense,"  Ford  grumbled.  But 
he  reached  out  and  clenched  his  fingers  upon  Mason's 
arm  so  tight  that  Mason  set  his  teeth,  and  he  looked 
at  him  long,  as  if  there  was  much  that  he  would  like 
to  put  into  words  and  could  not.  "  Say !  You  're 
white  clear  down  to  your  toes,  Ches,"  he  said  finally, 
and  walked  away  hurriedly  with  his  hat  jerked  low 
over  his  eyes. 

Mason  looked  after  him  as  long  as  he  was  in  sight, 
and  afterwards  took  off  his  hat,  and  wiped  beads  o£ 
perspiration  from  his  forehead.  "  Gosh !  "  he  whis- 
pered fervently.  "  That  was  nip  and  tuck  —  but  I 
got  him,  thank  the  Lord !  "  Whereupon  he  blew  his 
nose  violently,  and  went  up  to  his  supper  with  his 
hands  in  his  pockets  and  his  humorous  lips  pursed 
into  a  whistle. 

Before  long  he  was  back,  chuckling  to  himself  as 


124      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

he  bore  down  upon  Ford  in  the  corral,  where  he  was 
industriously  rubbing  Rambler's  sprained  shoulder 
with  liniment. 

"  The  wife  says  you  've  got  to  come  up  to  the 
house,"  he  announced  gleefully.  "  You  've  gone  and 
done  the  heroic  again,  and  she  wants  to  do  some- 
thing to  show  her  gratitude." 

"  You  go  back  and  tell  your  wife  that  I  'm  a  bold, 
bad  man  and  I  won't  come."  Ford,  to  prove  his 
sincerity,  sat  down  upon  the  stout  manger  there,  and 
crossed  his  legs  with  an  air  of  finality. 

"  I  did  tell  her,"  Mason  confessed  sheepishly. 
"  She  wanted  to  know  who  you  was,  and  I  told  her 
before  I  thought.     And  she  wanted  to  know  what 

O 

was  the  matter  with  your  face,  '  poor  fellow,'  and  I 
told  her  that,  too  —  as  near  as  I  knew  it.  I  told 
her,"  he  stated  sweepingly,  "  that  you  'd  been  on  a 
big  jamboree  and  had  licked  fourteen  men  hand- 
running.  There  ain't,"  he  confided  with  a  twinkle, 
"  any  use  at  all  in  trying  to  keep  a  secret  from  your 
wife ;  not,"  he  qualified,  "  from  a  wife  like  Kate ! 
So  she  knows  the   whole  darned  thing,   and  she 's 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      125 

sore  as  the  deuce  because  I  did  n't  bring  you  up  to 
the  house  right  away  when  you  came.  She  thinks 
you  're  sufferin'  from  them  wounds  and  she  's  going 
to  doctor  'em.  That 's  the  way  with  a  woman  —  you 
never  can  tell  what  angle  she  's  going  to  look  at  a 
thing  from.  You  're  the  man  that  packed  me  down 
out  of  the  Wrangel  mountains  on  your  back,  and 
that 's  enough  for  her  —  dang  it,  Kate  thinks  a  lot 
of  me !  Besides,  you  done  the  heroic  this  afternoon. 
You  've  got  to  come." 

"  There  ain't  anything  heroic  in  sloshing  a  few 
buckets  of  water  on  a  barrel  of  burning  rags,"  Ford 
belittled,  seeking  in  his  pockets  for  his  cigarette 
papers. 

"How  about  rescuing  a  lady?"  Mason  twitted. 
"  You  come  along.  I  want  you  up  there  myself. 
Gosh!  I  want  somebody  I  can  talk  to  about  some- 
thing besides  dresses  and  the  proper  way  to  cure 
sprained  ankles,  and  whether  the  grocer  sent  out  the 
right  brand  of  canned  peaches.  Women  are  all  right 
—  but  a  man  wants  some  one  around  to  talk  to.  You 
ain't  married !  " 


126      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  Oh.  Ain't  I  ?  "  Ford  snorted.  "  And  what  if  I 
ain't?" 

"  Say,  there  's  a  mighty  nice  girl  staying  with  ns; 
the  one  you  rescued.  She 's  laid  up  now  —  got 
bucked  off,  or  fell  off,  or  something  yesterday,  and 
hurt  her  foot  —  but  she 's  a  peach,  all  right. 
You  '11  —  " 

"  I  know  the  lady,"  Ford  cut  in  dryly.  "  I  met 
her  yesterday,  and  we  commenced  hating  each  other 
as  soon  as  we  got  in  talking  distance.  She  sent  me 
to  catch  her  horse,  and  then  she  pulled  out  before  I 
got  back.     She  's  a  peach,  all  right !  " 

"  Oh.  You  're  the  fellow !  "  Mason  regarded  him 
attentively.  "  Now,  I  don't  believe  she  said  a  word 
to  Kate  about  that,  and  she  must  have  known  who 
it  was  packed  her  out  of  the  house.  I  wonder  why 
she  did  n't  say  anything  about  it  to  Kate !  But  she 
was  n't  to  blame  for  leaving  you  out  there,  honest 
she  was  n't.  I  went  out  to  hunt  her  up  —  Kate  got 
kinda  worried  about  her  —  and  she  told  me  about 
you,  arid  we  did  wait  a  little  while.  But  it  was 
getting  cold,  and  she  was  hurt  pretty  bad  and  getting 


"QUIT   BELIEVING!"      127 

kind  a  wobbly,  so  I  put  her  on  my  horse  and  brought 
her  home.  But  she  left  a  note  for  you,  and  I  sent 
a  man  back  after  you  with  a  horse.  He  come  back 
and  said  he  couldn't  locate  you.  So  we  thought 
you  'd  gone  to  some  other  ranch."  He  stopped  and 
looked  quizzically  at  Ford.  "So  you're  the  man! 
And  vou  're  both  here  for  the  winter  —  at  least, 
Kate  says  she  's  going  to  keep  her  all  winter.  Gosh ! 
This  is  getting  romantic !  " 

"  Don't  you  believe  it !  "  Ford  urged  emphatically. 
"  I  don't  want  to  bump  into  her  again ;  a  little  of 
her  company  will  last  me  a  long  while !  " 

"  Oh,  you  won't  meet  Jo  to-night ;  Josephine,  her 
name  is.  She  's  in  bed,  and  will  be  for  a  week  or 
so,  most  likely.  You  've  just  got  to  come,  Ford. 
Kate  '11  be  down  here  after  you  herself,  if  I  go  back 
without  you  —  and  she'll  give  me  the  dickens  into 
the  bargain.  I  want  you  to  get  acquainted  with  my 
kid  —  Buddy.  He's  down  in  the  river  field  with 
the  boys,  but  he  '11  be  back  directly.  Greatest  kid 
you  ever  saw,  Ford !  Only  seven,  and  he  can  ride 
like  a  son-of-a-gun,  and  wears  chaps  and  spurs,  and 


128      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

can  sling  a  loop  pretty  good,  for  a  little  kid !  Come 
on!" 

"  Wel-11,  all  right  —  but  Lordy  me !  I  do  hate  to, 
Ohes,  and  that 's  a  fact.  Women  I  'm  plumb  scared 
of.  I  never  met  one  in  my  life  that  did  n't  hand  me 
a  package  of  trouble  so  big  I  could  n't  see  around 
it.  Why  —  "  He  shut  his  teeth  upon  the  impulse 
to  confide  to  Mason  his  matrimonial  mischance. 

"  These  two  won't.  My  wife 's  the  real  goods, 
once  you  get  to  know  her ;  a  little  fussy,  maybe,  over 
some  things  —  most  all  women  are.  But  she 's  all 
right,  you  bet.  And  Josephine 's  the  proper  stuff 
too.     A  little  abrupt,  maybe  —  " 

"  Abrupt !  "  Ford  echoed,  and  laughed  over  the 
word.  "  Yes,  she  is  what  you  might  call  a  little  — 
abrupt !  " 


CHAPTER  IX 


IMPEESSIONS 


JOSEPHINE  waited  languidly  while  Kate  chose 
a  second-best  cushion  from  the  couch  and,  lift- 
ing the  bandaged  foot  as  gently  as  might  be,  placed 
it,  with  many  little  pats  and  pulls,  under  the  af- 
flicted member.  Josephine  screwed  her  lips  into  a 
soundless  expression  of  pain,  smiled  afterwards  when 
Kate  glanced  at  her  commiseratingly,  and  pulled  a 
long,  dark-brown  braid  forward  over  her  chest. 

"  Do  you  want  tea,  Phenie  ?  —  or  would  you  rather 
have  chocolate  to-day  ?  I  can  make  chocolate  just  as 
easy  as  not;  I  think  I  shall,  anyway.  Buddy  is  so 
fond  of  it  and  —  " 

"  Is  that  man  here  yet  ?  "  Josephine's  tone  car- 
ried the  full  weight  of  her  dislike  of  him. 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  call  him  '  that  man,'  the 
way  you  do,"  Kate  complained,  turning  her  mind 


130     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

from  the  momentous  decision  between  tea  and  choco- 
late. "  Ford  's  simply  fine !  Chester  thinks  there  's 
no  one  like  him;  and  Buddy  just  tags  him  around 
everywhere.  You  can  always/'  asserted  Kate,  with 
the  positiveness  of  the  person  who  accepts  unquestion- 
ingly  the  beliefs  of  others,  living  by  faith  rather  than 
reason,  "  depend  upon  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  chil- 
dren and  dogs,  you  know." 

"  Has  the  swelling  gone  out  of  his  eyes  ?  "  Jose- 
phine inquired  pointedly,  with  the  irrelevance  which 
seemed  habitual  to  her  and  Kate  when  they  con- 
versed. 

"  Phenie,  I  don't  think  it 's  kind  of  you  to  harp 
on  that.  Yes,  it  has,  if  you  want  to  know.  He  's 
positively  handsome  —  or  will  be  when  the  —  when 
his  nose  heals  perfectly.  And  I  don't  think  that  'a 
anything  one  should  hold  against  Ford;  it  seems 
narrow,  dear." 

"  The  skinned  place  ? ':  Josephine's  tone  was  per- 
fectly innocent,  and  her  fingers  were  busy  with  the 
wide,  black  bow  which  becomingly  tied  the  end  of 
the  braid. 


IMPRESSIONS  131 

"  Phenie !  If  you  had  n't  a  sprained  ankle,  and 
were  n't  such  a  dear  in  every  other  respect,  I  'd 
shake  you !  It  isn't  fair.  Because  Ford  was  pounced 
upon  by  a  lot  of  men  —  sixteen,  Chester  told  me  —  " 

"  I  suppose  he  counted  the  dead  after  the  battle, 
and  told  Ches  truthfully  —  " 

';  Phenie,  that  sounds  catty !  When  you  get  down 
on  a  man,  you're  perfectly  unmerciful,  and  Ford 
docs  n't  deserve  it.  You  should  n't  judge  men  by 
the  narrow,  Eastern  standards.  I  know  it 's  awful 
for  a  man  to  drink  and  fight.  But  Ford  was  n't 
altogether  to  blame.  They  got  him  to  drinking  and," 
she  went  on  with  her  voice  lowered  to  the  pitch  at 
which  women  are  wont  to  relate  horrid,  immoral 
things,  "  —  I  would  n't  be  surprised  if  they  put 
something  in  it !  Such  things  are  done ;  I  've  heard 
of  men  being  drugged  and  robbed  and  all  sorts  of 
things.  And  I  'm  just  as  much  of  an  advocate  for 
temperance  as  you  are,  Phenie  —  and  I  think  Ford 
was  just  right  to  fight  those  men.  There  are,"  she 
declared  wisely,  "  circumstances  where  it 's  perfectly 
just  and  right  for  a  man  to  fight.    I  can  imagine  cir- 


132      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

cumstances  under  which  Chester  would  be  justified  in 
fighting  —  " 

"  In  case  sixteen  men  should  hold  his  nose  and 
pour  drugged  whisky  down  his  throat  ?  "  Phenie  in- 
quired mildly,  curling  the  end  of  her  braid  over  a 
slim  forefinger. 

Mrs.  Kate  made  an  inarticulate  sound  which 
might  almost  be  termed  a  snort,  and  walked  from 
the  room  with  her  head  well  up  and  a  manner  which 
silently  made  plain  to  the  onlooker  that  she  might 
say  many  things  which  would  effectually  crush  her 
opponent,  but  was  magnanimously  refraining  from 
doing  so. 

Josephine  did  not  even  pay  her  the  tribute  of 
looking  at  her ;  she  had  at  that  moment  heard  a  step 
upon  the  porch,  and  she  was  leaning  to  one  side  so 
that  she  might  see  who  was  coming  into  the  diniii!:- 
room.  As  it  happened,  it  was  Mason  himself.  Miss 
Josephine  immediately  lost  interest  in  the  arrival 
and  took  to  tracing  with  her  finger  the  outline  of 
a  Japanese  lady  with  a  startling  coiffure  and  an 
immense  bow  upon  her  spine,  who  was  simpering 


IMPRESSIONS  133 

at  a  lotus  bed  on  Josephine's  kimono.  She  did  not 
look  up  until  some  one  stepped  upon  the  porch  again. 
This  time  it  was  Ford,  and  he  stopped  and  pains- 
takingly removed  the  last  bit  of  soil  from  his  boot- 
soles  upon  the  iron  scraper  which  was  attached  to 
one  end  of  the  top  step ;  when  that  duty  had  been  per- 
formed, he  paid  further  tribute  to  the  immaculate 
house  he  was  about  to  enter,  by  wiping  his  feet  upon 
a  mat  placed  with  mathematical  precision  upon  the 
porch,  at  the  head  of  the  steps.  Josephine  watched 
the  ceremonial,  and  studied  Ford's  profile,  and  did 
not  lay  her  head  back  upon  the  cushion  behind  her 
until  he  disappeared  into  the  dining-room.  Then  she 
stared  at  a  colored-crayon  portrait  of  Buddy  which 
hung  on  the  wall  opposite,  and  her  eyes  were  the  eyes 
of  one  who  sees  into  the  past. 

Buddy,  when  he  opened  the  door  and  projected 
himself  into  the  room,  startled  her  into  a  little  ex- 
clamation. 

,  "  Dad  says  he  '11  carry  you  out  to  the  table  and 
you  can  have  a  whole  side  to  yourself,"  he  announced 
without  preface.    "  They  '11  just  pick  up  your  chair, 


134      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

and  pack  chair  and  all  in,  and  set  you  down  as 
ee-asy  —  do  you  want  to  eat  out  there  with  us  ?  ': 

Josephine  hesitated  for  two  seconds.  "  All  right," 
she  consented  then,  in  a  supremely  indifferent  tone 
which  was  of  course  quite  wasted  on  Buddy,  who  im- 
mediately disappeared  with  a  whoop. 

"  Come  on,  dad  —  she  says  yes,  all  right,  she  '11 
come/'  he  announced  gleefully.  Buddy  was  Jose- 
phine's devoted  admirer,  at  this  point  in  their  rather 
brief  acquaintance ;  which,  according  to  his  mother's 
well-known  theory,  was  convincing  proof  of  her  in- 
trinsic worth  —  Mrs.  Kate  having  frequently 
strengthened  her  championship  of  Ford  to  his  de- 
tractor, Miss  Josephine,  by  pointing  out  that  Buddy 
was  fond  of  him. 

Josephine  spent  the  brief  interval  in  tucking  back 
locks  of  hair  and  in  rearranging  the  folds  of  her 
long,  Japanese  kimono,  and  managed  to  fall  into 
a  languidly  indifferent  attitude  by  the  time  Chester 
opened  the  door.  Behind  him  came  Ford ;  Miss 
Josephine  moved  her  lips  and  tilted  her  head  in  a 
perfunctory  greeting,   and   afterward  gave  him   no 


IMPRESSIONS  135 

more  attention  than  if  lie  had  been  a  Pullman  porter 
assisting  with  her  suitcases.  For  the  matter  of  that, 
she  gave  quite  as  much  attention  as  she  received 
from  him  —  and  Mason's  lips  twitched  betrayingly 
at  the  spectacle. 

Through  dinner  they  seemed  mutually  agreed  upon 
ignoring  each  other  as  much  as  was  politely  possible, 
which  caused  Mason  to  watch  them  with  amuse- 
ment, and  afterwards  relieve  his  feelings  by  talking 
about  them  to  Kate  in  the  kitchen. 

"  Gosh !  Jo  and  Ford  are  sure  putting  up  a  good 
bluff/'  he  chuckled,  while  he  selected  the  freshest 
dish  towel  from  the  rack  behind  the  pantry  door. 
"  They  'd  be  sticking  out  their  tongues  at  each  other 
if  they  was  twenty  years  younger;  pity  they  ain't, 
too ;  it  would  be  a  relief  to  'em  both !  " 

"  Phenie  provokes  me  almost  past  endurance !  " 
Mrs.  Kate  complained,  burying  two  plump  forearms 
in  a  dishpan  of  sudsy  hot  water,  and  bringing  up  a 
handful  of  silver.  "  It 's  because  Ford  had  been 
fighting  when  he  came  here,  and  she  knows  he  has 
been  slightly  addicted  to  liquor.     She  looks  down  on 


136      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

him,  and  I  don't  think  it 's  fair.  If  a-  man  wants 
to  reform,  I  believe  in  helping  him  instead  of  push- 
ing him  father  down."  (Mrs.  Kate  had  certain  little 
peculiarities  of  speech;  one  was  an  italicized  de- 
livery, and  another  was  the  omission  of  an  r  now 
and  then.  She  always  said  "  father "  when  she 
really  meant  "  farther.")  "  There  's  a  lot  that  one 
can  do  to  help.  I  believe  in  showing  trust  and  con- 
fidence in  a  man,  when  he  's  trying  to  live  down 
past  mistakes.  I  think  it  was  just  fine  of  you  to 
make  him  foreman  here !  If  Phenie  would  only  be 
nice  to  him,  instead  of  turning  up  her  nose  the  way 
she  does !  You  see  yourself  how  she  treats  Ford, 
and  I  just  think  it 's  a  shame !  I  think  he  's  just 
splendid !  " 

"  She  don't  treat  him  any  worse  than  he  does 
her,"  observed  Mason,  just  to  the  core.  "  Seems  to 
me,  if  I  was  single,  and  a  girl  as  pretty  as  Jo  —  ?; 

"  Well,  I  'm  glad  Ford  has  got  spunk  enough  not 
to  care,"  Mrs.  Kate  interposed  hastily.  "  Phenie  's 
pretty,  of  course — but  it  takes  more  than  that  to 
attract  a  man  like  Ford.     You  can't  expect  him  to 


IMPRESSIONS  137 

like  her  when  she  won't  look  at  him,  hardly ;  it 
makes  me  feel  terribly,  because  he  's  sure  to  think 
it 's  because  he  —  I  've  tried  to  make  her  see  that 
it  is  n't  right  to  condemn  a  man  because  he  has  made 
one  mistake.  He  ought  to  be  encouraged,  instead  of 
being  made  to  feel  that  he  is  a — an  outcast,  prac- 
tically.   And  —  " 

"  Jo  don't  like  Ford,  because  she  's  stuck  on  Dick," 
stated  a  shrill,  positive  young  voice  behind  them, 
and  Mrs.  Kate  turned  sharply  upon  her  offspring. 
'  They  was  waving  hands  to  each  other  just  now, 
through  the  window.  I  seen  'em,"  Buddy  finished 
complacently.  "  Dick  was  down  fixing  the  bridge, 
and  —  " 

;'  Buddy,  you  run  right  out  and  play !  You  must 
not  listen  to  older  people  and  try  to  talk  about  some- 
thing you  don't  understand." 

"  Aw,  I  understand  them  two  being  stuck  on  each 
other,"  Buddy  maintained  loftily.  "  And  I  seen 
Dick  —  " 

"Chase  yourself  outdoors,  like  your  mother  said; 
and  don't  butt  in  on  —  " 


138      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  Chester !  "  reproved  Mrs.  Kate,  waving  Buddy 
out  of  the  kitchen.  "  How  can  you  expect  the  child 
to  learn  good  English,  when  you  talk  to  him  like 
that  ?  Run  along,  Buddy,  and  play  like  a  good  boy." 
She  gave  him  a  little  cake  to  accelerate  his  de- 
parture and  to  turn  his  mind  from  further  argu- 
ment, and  after  he  was  gone  she  swung  the  discus- 
sion to  Buddy  and  his  growing  tendency  toward 
grappling  with  problems  beyond  his  seven  years. 
Also,  she  pointed  out  the  necessity  for  choosing 
one's  language  carefully  in  his  presence. 

Mason,  therefore,  finished  wiping  the  dishes  al- 
most in  silence,  and  left  the  house  as  soon  as  he 
was  through,  with  the  feeling  that  women  were  not 
by  nature  intended  to  be  really  companionable.  He 
had,  for  instance,  been  struck  with  the  humorous 
side  of  Ford  and  Josephine's  perfectly  ridiculous 
antipathy,  and  had  lingered  in  the  kitchen  because  :» 
of  a  half-conscious  impulse  to  enjoy  the  joke  with 
some  one.  And  Mrs.  Kate  had  not  taken  the  view- 
point which  appealed  to  him,  but  had  been  self- 
consciously virtuous   in  her  determination  to  lend 


IMPRESSIONS  139 

Ford  a  helping  band,  and  resentful  because  Jose- 
phine failed  to  feel  also  the  urge  of  uplifting  man- 
kind. 

Mason,  poor  man,  was  vaguely  nettled;  he  did 
not  see  that  Ford  needed  any  settlement-worker  en- 
couragement. If  he  was  let  alone,  and  bis  moral 
regeneration  forgotten,  and  he  himself  treated  just 
like  any  other  man,  Mason  felt  that  Ford  would 
thereby  have  all  the  encouragement  he  needed.  Ford 
was  once  more  plainly  content  with  life,  and  was 
taking  it  in  twenty-four-hour  doses  again ;  healthful 
doses,  these,  and  different  in  every  respect  from  those 
days  spent  in  the  sordid  round  of  ill-living  in  town ; 
nor  did  he  flay  his  soul  with  doubts  lest  he  should 
disappoint  this  man  who  trusted  him  so  rashly  and 
so  implicitly.  Ford  was  busy  at  work  which  ap- 
pealed to  the  best  of  him.  He  was  thrown  into  com- 
panionship with  men  who  perforce  lived  cleanly  and 
naturally,  and  with  Ches  Mason,  who  was  his  friend. 
At  meals  he  sometimes  gave  thought  to  Mrs.  Kate, 
and  frequently  to  Josephine.  The  first  he  admired 
impersonally  for  her  housewifely  skill,  and  smiled 


140      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

at  secretly  for  her  purely  feminine  outlook  upon  life 
and  her  positive  views  upon  subjects  of  which  she 
knew  not  half  the  alphabet.  He  had  discovered  that 
Mason  did  indeed  refrain  from  smoking  in  the  house 
because  she  discountenanced  tobacco;  and  since  she 
had  a  talent  for  making  a  man  uncomfortably  aware 
of  her  disapproval  by  certain  wordless  manifesta- 
tions of  scorn  for  his  weaknesses,  Ford  also  took  to 
throwing  away  his  cigarette  before  he  crossed  the 
bridge  on  his  way  to  her  domain.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, go  so  far  as  Ches,  who  kept  his  tobacco,  pipe, 
and  cigarette  papers  in  the  stable,  and  was  always 
borr<  iwing  "  the  makings  "  from  his  men. 

Ford'  also  followed  Mason's  example  in  sterilizing 
his  vocabulary  whenever  he  crossed  that  boundary 
between  the  masculine  and  feminine  element  on  the 
ranch,  the  bridge.  Mrs.  Kate  did  not  approve  of 
slang.  Ford  found  himself  carefullv  eliminating 
from  his  speech  certain  grammatical  inaccuracies  in 
her  presence,  and  would  not  so  much  as  split  an 
infinitive  if  he  remembered  in  time.  It  was  trying, 
to  be  sure.     Ford  thanked  God  that  he  still  retained 


IMPRESSIONS  141 

a  smattering  of  the  rules  he  had  reluctantly  mem- 
orized in  school,  and  that  he  was  not  married  (at 
least,  not  uncomfortably  so),  and  that  he  was  not 
compelled  to  do  more  than  eat  his  meals  in  the  house. 
Mrs.  Kate  was  a  nice  woman;  Ford  would  tell  any 
man  so  in  perfect  sincerity.  He  even  considered  her 
nice  looking,  with  her  smooth,  brown  hair  which  was 
never  disordered,  her  fine,  clear  skin,  her  white  teeth, 
her  clear  blue  eyes,  and  her  immaculate  shirt-waists. 
But  she  was  not  a  comfortable  woman  to  be  with; 
an  ordinary  human  wearied  of  adjusting  his  speech, 
his  manners,  and  his  morals  to  her  standard  of  pro- 
priety. Ford,  quietly  studying  matrimony  from  the 
well-ordered  example  before  him,  began  to  congratu- 
late himself  upon  not  being  able  to  locate  his  own 
wife  —  since  accident  had  afflicted  him  with  one. 
When  he  stopped,  during  these  first  busy  days  at  the 
Double  Cross,  to  think  deeply  or  seriously  upon  the 
mysterious  entanglement  he  had  fallen  into,  he  was 
inclined  to  the  opinion  that  he  had  had  a  narrow 
i  ape.  The  woman  might  have  remained  in  Sunset 
■ —  and  Ford  flinched  at  the  thought. 


142      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

As  to  Josephine,  Ford's  thoughts  dwelt  with  her 
oftener  than  they  did  with  Mrs.  Kate.  The  thought 
of  her  roused  a  certain  resentment  which  bordered 
closely  upon  dislike.  Still,  she  piqued  his  interest; 
for  a  week  she  was  invisible  to  him,  yet  her  presence 
in  the  house  created  a  tangible  atmosphere  which  he 
felt  but  could  not  explain.  His  first  sight  of  her  — ■ 
beyond  a  fleeting  glimpse  once  or  twice  through  the 
window  —  had  been  that  day  when  he  had  helped 
Mason  carry  her  and  her  big  chair  into  the  dining- 
room.  The  brief  contact  had  left  with  him  a  vision 
of  the  delicate  parting  in  her  soft,  brown  hair,  and 
of  long,  thick  lashes  which  curled  daintily  up  from 
the  shadow  they  made  on  her  cheeks.  He  did  not 
remember  ever  having  seen  a  woman  with  such  eye- 
lashes. They  impelled  him  to  glance  at  her  oftener 
than  he  would  otherwise  have  done,  and  to  wonder, 
now  and  then,  if  they  did  not  make  her  eyes  seem 
darker  than  they  really  were.  He  thought  it  strange 
that  he  had  not  noticed  her  lashes  that  day  when  he 
carried  her  from  the  house  and  back  again  —  until 
he  remembered  that  at  first  his  haste  had  been  ex- 


IMPRESSIONS  143 

treme,  and  that  when  he  took  her  from  the  bunk- 
house  she  had  stared  at  him  so  that  he  would  not 
look  at  her. 

He  did  not  know  that  dies  Mason  was  observant 
of  his  rather  frequent  glances  at  her  during  the 
meal,  and  he  would  have  resented  Mason's  diagnosis 
of  that  particular  symptom  of  interest.  Ford  would, 
if  put  to  the  question,  have  maintained  quite  sin- 
cerely that  he  was  perfectly  indifferent  to  Josephine, 
but  that  she  did  have  remarkable  eyelashes,  and  a 
man  could  n't  help  looking  at  them. 

After  all,  Ford's  interest  was  centered  chiefly  upon 
his  work.  They  were  going  to  start  the  wagons  out 
again  to  gather  the  calves  for  weaning,  and  he  was 
absorbed  in  the  endless  details  which  fall  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  foreman.  Even  the  fascination  of 
a  woman's  beauty  did  not  follow  him  much  beyond 
the  bridge. 

Mason,  hurrying  from  the  feminine  atmosphere  at 
the  house,  found  him  seriously  discussing  with  Buddy 
the  diet  and  general  care  of  Rambler,  who  had  been 
moved  into  a  roomy  box  stall  for  shelter.     Buddy 


144      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

was  to  have  the  privilege  of  filling  the  manger  with 
hay  every  morning  after  breakfast,  and  every  even- 
ing just  before  supper.  Upon  Buddy  also  devolved 
the  duty  of  keeping  his  drinking  tub  filled  with 
clean  water;  and  Buddy  was  making  himself  as  tall 
as  possible  during  the  conference,  and  was  crossing 
his  heart  solemnly  while  he  promised,  wide-eyed,  to 
keep  away  from  Rambler's  heels. 

"  I  never  knew  him  to  kick,  or  offer  to ;  but  you 
stay  out  of  the  stall,  anyway.  You  can  fill  his  tub 
through  that  hole  in  the  wall.  And  vou  let  Walt 
rub  him  down  good  every  day  —  you  see  that  he 
does  it,  Bud !  And  when  he  gets  well,  I  '11  let  you 
ride  him,  maybe.  Anyway,  I  leave  him  in  your  care, 
old-timer.  And  it 's  a  privilege  I  would  n't  give 
every  man.  I  think  a  heap  of  this  horse."  He  turned 
at  the  sound  of  footsteps,  and  lowered  an  eyelid 
slowly  for  Mason's  benefit.  "  Bud  's  going  to  have 
charge  of  Rambler  while  we  're  gone,"  he  explained 
seriously.     "  I  want  to  be  sure  he  's  in  good  hands." 

The  two  men  watched  Buddy's  departure  for  the 
house,  and  grinned  over  the  manifest  struggle  be- 


IMPRESSIONS  145 

tween  his  haste  to  tell  his  mother  and  Jo,  and  his 
sense  of  importance  over  the  trust. 

"  A  kid  of  your  own  makes  up  for  a  whole  lot," 
Mason  observed  abstractedly,  reaching  up  to  the  nar- 
row shelf  where  he  kept  his  tobacco.  "  I  wish  I  had 
two  or  three  more;  they  give  a  man  something  to 
work  for,  and  look  ahead  and  plan  for." 

Ford,  studying  his  face  with  narrowed  eyelids,  was 
more  than  ever  thankful  that  he  was  not  hampered 
by  matrimony. 


CHAPTER  X 

IN    WHICH    THE    DEMON    OPENS    AN    EYE    AND    YAWNS 

A  STORM  held  the  Double  Cross  wagons  in  a 
sheltered  place  in  the  hills,  ten  miles  from  the 
little  town  where  Ford  had  spent  a  night  on  his  way 
to  the  ranch  a  month  before.  Mason,  taking  the 
inaction  as  an  excuse,  rode  home  to  his  family  ami 
left  Ford  to  his  own  devices  with  no  compunctions 
whatever.  He  should,  perhaps,  have  known  better; 
but  he  was  acting  upon  his  belief  that  nothing  so 
braces  a  man  as  the  absolute  confidence  of  his 
friends,  and  to  have  stayed  in  camp  on  Ford's  ac- 
count would,  according  to  Mason's  code,  have  been 
an  affront  to  Ford's  manifest  determination  to 
"  make  good." 

It  is  true  that  neither  had  mentioned  the  matter 
since  the  day  of  Ford's  arrival  at  the  ranch;  men 
do  not.  as  a  rule,  harp  upon  the  deeper  issues  within 


DEMON   OPENS   AN   EYE     147 

their  lives.  For  that  month,  it  had  been  as  though 
the  subject  of  intemperance  concerned  them  as  little 
as  the  political  unrest  of  a  hot-tempered  people  be- 
yond the  equator.  They  had  argued  the  matter  to 
a  more  or  less  satisfactory  conclusion,  and  had  let 
it  rest  there. 

Ford  had  ridden  with  him  a  part  of  the  way,  and 
when  they  came  to  a  certain  fork  in  the  trail,  he  had 
sent  a  whimsically  solemn  message  to  Buddy,  had 
pulled  the  collar  of  his  coat  closer  together  under  his 
chin,  and  had  faced  the  wind  with  a  clean  conscience, 
and  with  bowed  head  and  hat  pulled  low  over  his 
brow?.  There  were  at  least  three  perfectly  valid 
reasons  why  Ford  should  ride  into  town  that  day. 
He  wanted  heavier  socks  and  a  new  pair  of  gloves; 
he  was  almost  out  of  tobacco,  and  wanted  to  see  if 
he  could  "  pick  up  "  another  man  so  that  the  hours 
of  night-guarding  might  not  fall  so  heavily  upon  the 
crew.  Ford  had  been  standing  the  last  guard  him- 
self, for  the  last  week,  to  relieve  the  burden  a  little, 
and  Mason  had  been  urgent  on  the  subject  of  an- 
other man  —  or  two,  he  suggested,  would  be  better. 


148      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Ford  did  his  simple  shopping,  therefore,  and  then 
rode  up  to  the  first  saloon  on  the  one  little  street, 
and  dismounted  with  a  mind  at  ease.  If  idle  men 
were  to  he  found  in  that  town,  he  would  have  to  look 
for  them  in  a  saloon ;  a  fact  which  every  one  took 
for  granted,  like  the  shortening  of  the  days  as  winter 
approached. 

Perhaps  he  over-estimated  his  powers  of  endur- 
ance, or  under-estimated  the  strength  of  his  enemy. 
Certain  it  is  that  he  had  no  intention  of  drinking 
whisky  when  he  closed  the  door  upon  the  chill  wind ; 
and  yet,  he  involuntarily  walked  straight  up  to  the 
bar.  There  he  stuck.  The  bartender  waited  ex- 
pectantly. When  Ford,  with  a  sudden  lift  of  his 
head,  turned  away  to  the  stove,  the  man  looked  after 
him  curiously. 

At  the  stove  Ford  debated  with  himself  while  he 
drew  off  his  gloves  and  held  his  fingers  to  the  wel- 
come heat  which  emanated  from  a  red  glow  where 
the  fire  burned  hottest  within.  He  had  not  made  any 
promise  to  himself  or  any  one  else,  he  remembered. 
He  had  simply  resolved  that  he  would  make  good,  if 


DEMON    OPENS   AN   EYE     149 

it  were  humanly  possible  to  do  so.  That,  he  told 
himself,  did  not  necessarily  mean  that  he  should 
turn  a  teetotaler  out  and  out.  Taking  a  drink,  when 
a  man  was  cold  and  felt  the  need  of  it,  was  not  — 

At  that  point  in  the  argument  two  of  his  own  men 
entered,  stamping  noisily  upon  the  threshold.  They 
were  laughing,  from  pure  animal  satisfaction  over 
the  comforts  within,  rather  than  at  any  tangible 
cause  for  mirth,  and  they  called  to  Ford  with  easy 
comradeship.  Dick  Thomas  —  the  Dick  whom 
Buddy  had  mentioned  in  connection  with  Josephine 
—  waved  his  hand  hospitably  toward  the  bar. 

"  Come  on,  Campbell,"  he  invited.  He  may  have 
seen  the  hesitancy  in  Ford's  face,  for  he  laughed. 
"  I  believe  in  starting  on  the  inside  and  driving  the 
frost  out,"  he  said. 

The  two  poured  generously  from  the  bottle  which 
the  bartender  pushed  within  easy  reach,  and  Ford 
watched  them.  There  was  a  peculiar  lift  to  Dick'? 
upper  lip — the  lift  which  comes  when  scorn  is  the 
lever.  Ford's  eyes  hardened  a  little ;  he  walked  over 
and  stood  beside  Dick,  and  he  took  a  drink  as  un- 


150      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

emotionally  as  if  it  had  been  water.  He  ordered 
another  round,  threw  a  eoin  upon  the  bar,  and 
walked  out.  He  had  rather  liked  Dick.,  in  an  im- 
personal sort  of  way,  but  that  half-sneer  clung  dis- 
agreeably to  his  memory.  A  man  likes  to  be  held  the 
master  —  be  the  slave  circumstance,  danger,  an  op- 
posing human,  or  his  own  appetite;  and  although 
Ford  was  not  the  type  of  man  who  troubles  himself 
much  about  the  opinions  of  his  fellows,  it  irked  him 
much  that  Dick  or  any  other  man  should  sneer  at  him 
for  a  weakling. 

He  went  to  another  saloon,  found  and  hired  a 
cow-puncher  strayed  up  from  Valley  County,  and 
when  Dick  came  in;  a  half-hour  later,  Ford  went  to 
the  bar  and  deliberately  "  called  up  the  house."  He 
had  been  minded  to  choose  a  mineral  water  then, 
but  he  caught  Dick's  mocking  eye  upon  him,  and 
instead  took  whisky  straight,  and  stared  challeng- 
ingly  at  the  other  over  the  glass  tilted  against  his 
lips. 

After  that,  the  liquor  itself  waged  relentless  war 
against  his  good  resolutions,  so  that  it  did  not  need 


DEMON    OPENS   AN   EYE     151 

the  urge  of  Dick's  fancied  derision  to  send  him 
down  the  trail  which  the  past  had  made  familiar. 
He  sat  in  to  a  poker  game  that  was  creating  a  small 
zone  of  subdued  excitement  at  the  far  end  of  the 
room,  and  while  he  was  arranging  his  stacks  of  red, 
white,  and  blue  chips  neatly  before  him,  he  was 
unpleasantly  conscious  of  Dick's  supercilious  smile. 
Never  mind  —  he  was  not  the  first  foreman  who 
ever  played  poker;  they  all  did,  when  the  mood 
seized  them.  Ford  straightened  his  shoulders  in- 
stinctively, in  defiance  of  certain  inner  misgivings, 
and  pushed  forward  his  ante  of  two  white  chips. 

Jim  Felton  came  up  and  stood  at  his  shoulder, 
watching  the  game  in  silence;  and  although  he  did 
not  once  open  his  lips  except  to  let  an  occasional 
thin  ribbon  of  cigarette  smoke  drift  out  and  away  to 
mingle  with  the  blue  cloud  which  hung  under  the 
(ceiling,  Ford  sensed  a  certain  good-will  in  his  near- 
ness, just  as  intangibly  and  yet  as  surely  as  he 
sensed  Dick's  sardonic  amusement  at  his  apparent 
lapse. 

With  every  bet   he  made   and  won  he  felt  that 


152      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

silent  approbation  behind  him ;  insensibly  it  steadied 
Ford  and  sharpened  his  instinct  for  reading  the  faces 
of  the  other  players,  so  that  the  miniature  towers 
of  red  chips  and  blue  grew  higher  until  they  threat- 
ened to  topple  —  whereupon  other  little  towers  began 
to  grow  up  around  them.  And  the  men  in  the 
saloon  began  to  feel  the  fascination  of  his  success, 
so  that  they  grouped  themselves  about  his  chair  and 
peered  down  over  his  shoulder  at  the  game. 

Ford  gave  them  no  thought,  except  a  vague  satis- 
faction, now  and  then,  that  Jim  Felton  stuck  to  his 
post.  Later,  when  he  caught  the  dealer,  a  slit-eyed, 
sallow-skinned  fellow  with  fingers  all  too  nimble, 
slipping  a  card  from  the  bottom  of  the  deck,  and 
gave  him  a  resounding  slap  which  sent  him  and  his 
cards  sprawling  all  over  that  locality,  he  should  have 
been  more  than  ever  glad  that  Jim  was  present. 

Jim  kept  back  the  gambler's  partner  and  the  crowd 
and  gave  Ford  elbow-room  and  some  moral  support, 
which  did  its  part,  in  that  it  prevented  any  inter- 
ference with  the  chastisemeut  Ford  was  adminis- 
tering. 


DEMON   OPENS   AN   EYE     153 

It  was  not  a  fight,  properly  speaking.  The  gam- 
bler, once  Ford  had  finished  cuffing  him  and  stating 
his  opinion  of  cheating  the  while,  backed  away  and 
muttered  vague  threats  and  maledictions.  Ford 
gathered  together  what  chips  he  felt  certain  were  his, 
and  cashed  them  in  with  a  certain  grim  insistence 
of  manner  which  brooked  no  argument.  After  that 
he  left  the  saloon,  with  Jim  close  behind  him. 

"  If  you  're  going  back  to  camp  now,  I  reckon 
I  '11  ride  along,"  said  Jim,  at  his  elbow.  "  There  's 
just  nice  time  to  get  there  for  supper  —  and  I  sure 
don't  want  to  miss  flopping  my  lip  over  Mose's  beef- 
steak ;  that  yearling  we  beefed  this  morning  is  going 
to  make  some  fine  eating,  if  you  ask  me."  His 
tone  was  absolutely  devoid  of  anything  approaching 
persuasion ;  it  simply  took  a  certain  improbable  thing 
as  a  commonplace  fact,  and  it  tilted  the  balance  of 
Ford's  intentions. 

Ho  did  not  go  on  to  the  next  saloon,  as  he  had 
started  to  do,  but  instead  he  followed  Jim  to  the 
livery  stable  and  got  his  horse,  without  realizing 
that  Jim  had  anything  to  do  with  the  change  of 


154      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

impulse.  So  Ford  went  to  camp,  instead  of  spending 
the  night  riotously  in  town  as  he  would  otherwise 
have  done,  and  contented  himself  with  cursing  the 
game,  the  gambler  who  would  have  given  a  "  crooked 
deal,"  the  town,  and  all  it  contained.  A  mile  out, 
he  would  have  returned  for  a  bottle  of  whisky;  but 
Jim  said  he  had  enough  for  two,  and  put  his  horse 
into  a  lope.  Ford,  swayed  by  a  blind  instinct  to 
stay  with  the  man  who  seemed  friendly,  followed 
the  pace  he  set  and  so  was  unconsciously  led  out  of 
the  way  of  further  temptation.  And  so  artfully  was 
he  led,  that  he  never  once  suspected  that  he  did  not 
go  of  his  own  accord. 

Neither  did  he  suspect  that  Jim's  stumbling  and 
immediate  spasm  of  regretful  profanity  at  the  bed- 
wagon  where  they  unsaddled,  was  the  result  of  two 
miles  of  deep  cogitation,  and  calculated  to  account 
plausibly  for  not  being  able  to  produce  a  full  flask 
upon  demand.  Jim  swore  volubly  and  said  he  had 
"  busted  the  bottle "  by  falling  against  the  wagon 
wheel ;  and  Ford,  for  a  wonder,  believed  and  did  not 
ask  for  proof.     He  muddled  around  camp  for  a  few 


DEMON    OPENS   AN   EYE     155 

indecisive  minutes,  then  rolled  himself  up  like  a  giant 
cocoon  in  hie  blankets,  and  slept  heavily  through  the 
night. 

He  awoke  at  daylight,  found  himself  fully  clothed 
and  with  a  craving  for  whisky  which  he  knew  of  old, 
and  tried  to  remember  just  what  had  occurred  the 
night  before ;  when  he  could  not  recall  anything  very 
distinctly,  he  felt  the  first  twinge  of  fear  that  he  had 
known  for  years. 

"  Lordy  me !  I  wonder  what  kind  a  fool  I  made  of 
myself,  anyway !  "  he  thought  distressfully.  Later, 
when  he  discovered  more  money  in  his  pockets  than 
his  salary  would  account  for,  and  remembered  play- 
ing poker,  and  having  an  argument  of  some  sort  with 
some  one,  his  distress  grew  upon  him.  In  reality  he 
had  not  done  anything  disgraceful,  according  to  the 
easy  judgment  of  his  fellows ;  but  Ford  did  not  know 
that,  and  he  flayed  himself  unmercifully  for  a  spine- 
less, drunken  idiot  whom  no  man  conld  respect  or 
trust.  It  seemed  to  him  that  the  men  eyed  him 
askance;  though  they  were  merely  envious  over  his 
winnings  and  inclined  to  admire  the  manner  in  which 


156      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

he  had  shown  his  disapproval  of  the  dealer's  attempt 
at  cheating. 

He  dreaded  Mason's  return,  and  yet  he  was  anxious 
to  see  him  and  tell  him,  once  for  all,  that  he  was  not 
to  be  trusted.  He  held  aloof  from  Jim  and  he  was 
scantily  civil  to  Dick  Thomas,  whose  friendship  rang 
false.  He  pushed  the  work  ahead  while  the  air  was 
still  alive  with  swirls  of  mote-like  snowflakes,  and 
himself  bore  the  brunt  of  it  just  to  dull  that  gnaw- 
ing self-disgust  which  made  his  waking  hours  a 
mental  torment. 

Before,  when  disgust  had  seized  upon  him  in  Sun- 
set, it  had  been  an  abstract  rebellion  against  the 
futility  of  life  as  he  was  living  it.  This  was  dif- 
ferent :  This  was  a  definite,  concrete  sense  of  failure 
to  keep  faith  with  himself  and  with  Mason;  the 
sickening  consciousness  of  a  swinish  return  to  the 
wallow;  a  distrust  of  himself  that  was  beyond  any 
emotion  he  had  ever  felt  in  his  life. 

So,  for  a  week  of  hard  work  and  harder  thinking. 
Mason  sent  word  by  a  migratory  cowboy,  who  had 
stopped  all  night  at  the  ranch  and  whom  he  had  hired 


DEMON   OPENS  AN   EYE     157 

and  sent  on  to  camp,  that  he  would  not  return  to  the 
round-up,  and  that  Ford  was  to  go  ahead  as  they 
had  planned.  That  balked  Ford's  determination  to 
turn  the  work  over  to  Mason  and  leave  the  country, 
and,  after  the  first  day  of  inner  rebellion,  he  settled 
down  insensibly  to  the  task  before  him  and  let  hia 
own  peculiar  moral  problem  wait  upon  his  leisure. 
He  did  not  dream  that  the  cowboy  had  witnessed  his 
chastisement  of  the  gambler  and  had  gleefully,  and 
in  perfect  innocence,  recounted  the  incident  at  the 
Double  Cross  ranch,  and  that  Mason  had  deliberately 
thrown  Ford  upon  his  own  resources  in  obedience  to 
his  theory  that  nothing  so  braces  a  man  as  responsi- 
bility. 

Ford  went  about  his  business  with  grim  industry 
and  a  sureness  of  judgment  born  of  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  range  work.  There  was  the  winnowing 
process  which  left  the  bigger,  stronger  calves  in 
charge  of  two  men,  at  a  line  camp  known  locally  as 
Ten  Mile,  and  took  the  younger  ones  on  to  the  home 
ranch,  where  hay  and  shelter  were  more  plentiful 
and  the  loss  would  be  correspondingly  less. 


158      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Not  until  the  last  cow  of  the  herd  was  safe  inside 
the  big  corral  beyond  the  stables,  did  Ford  relax 
his  vigilance  and  ride  over  to  where  Ches  Mason 
and  Buddy  were  standing  in  the  shelter  of  the  stable, 
waiting  to  greet  him. 

"  Good  boy !  "  cried  Mason,  when  Ford  dis- 
mounted and  flung  the  stirrup  up  over  the  saddle, 
that  he  might  loosen  the  latigo  and  free  his  steaming 
horse  of  its  burden.  "  I  did  n't  look  for  you  before 
to-morrow  night,  at  the  earliest.  But  I  'm  mighty 
glad  you  're  here,  let  me  tell  you.  That  leaves  me 
free  to  hit  the  trail  to-morrow.  I  've  got  to  make 
a  trip  home;  the  old  man  's  down  with  inflammatory 
rheumatism,  and  they  want  me  to  go  —  have  n't  been 
home  for  six  years,  so  I  guess  they  've  got  a  license 
to  put  in  a  bid  for  a  month  or  two  of  my  time,  huh  ? 
I  didn't  want  to  pull  out,  though,  till  you  showed 
up.  I  'm  kinda  leery  about  leaving  the  women  alone, 
with  just  a  couple  of  sow-egians  on  the  ranch.  Bud, 
you  go  get  a  pan  of  oats  for  old  Schley.  Supper  's 
about  ready,  Ford.  Have  the  boys  shovel  some  hay 
into  the  corral,  and  we  '11  leave  the  bunch  there  till 


DEMON    OPENS  AN   EYE     159 

morning.  Say,  the  wagons  did  n't  beat  you  much ; 
they  never  pulled  in  till  after  three.  Mose  says  the 
going  's  bad,  on  them  dobe  patches." 

Not  much  of  an  opening,  that,  for  saying  what 
Ford  felt  he  was  in  duty  bound  to  say.  He  was 
constrained  to  wait  until  a  better  opportunity  pre- 
sented itself  —  and,  as  is  the  way  with  opportunity, 
it  did  not  seem  as  if  it  would  ever  come  of  its  own 
accord.  There  was  Buddy,  full  of  exciting  anecdotes 
about  Rambler,  and  how  he  had  rubbed  the  liniment 
on,  all  alone,  and  Eambler  never  kicked  or  did  a 
thing;  and  how  he  and  Josephine  rode  clear  over 
to  Jensen's  and  got  caught  in  the  storm  and  almost 
got  lost  —  only  Buddy's  horse  knew  the  way  home. 
And,  later,  there  was  Mrs.  Kate's  excellent  supper 
and  gracious  welcome,  and  an  evening  devoted  to 
four-handed  cribbage  —  with  Josephine  and  Mason 
as  implacable  adversaries  —  and  a  steady  undercur- 
rent of  latent  hostility  between  him  and  the  girl, 
which  prevented  his  thinking  much  about  himself 
and  his  duty  to  Mason.  There  was  everything,  in 
fact,  to  thwart  a  man's  resolution  to  discharge  hon- 


160      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

orably  a  disagreeable  duty,  and  to  distract  bis  at- 
tention. 

Ford  went  to  bed  with  the  baffled  sense  of  being 
placed  in  a  false  position  against  his  will ;  and,  man- 
like, he  speedily  gave  over  thinking  of  that,  and  per- 
mitted his  thoughts  to  dwell  upon  a  certain  face 
which  owned  a  perfectly  amazing  pair  of  lashes, 
and  upon  a  manner  tantalizingly  aloof,  with  glimpses 
now  and  then  of  fascinating  possibilities  in  the  way 
of  comradeship,  when  the  girl  inadvertently  lowered 
her  guard  in  the  excitement  of  close  playing. 


CHAPTER  XI 

"  IT  *S    GOING    TO    BE    AN    UPHILL    CLIMB  !  " 

rjlORD  was  no  moral  weakling  except,  perhaps, 
-*-  when  whisky  and  he  came  to  hand-grips.  He 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  Mason  must  be  told  of 
his  backsliding,  and  protected  from  the  risk  of 
leaving  a  drunkard  in  charge  of  his  ranch.  And 
when  he  saw  that  the  opportunity  for  opening  the 
subject  easily  did  not  show  any  sign  of  presenting 
itself,  he  grimly  interrupted  Mason  in  the  middle 
of  a  funny  story  about  Josephine  and  Buddy  and 
Kate,  involving  themselves  in  a  three-cornered  argu- 
ment to  the  complete  discomfiture  of  the  women. 

"  I  tell  you,  Ford,  that  kid  's  a  corker !  Kate  's 
got  all  kinds  of  book  theories  about  raising  children, 
but  they  don't  none  of  'em  work,  with  Bud.  He 
gets  the  best  of  her  right  along  when  she  starts  to 
reason  with  him.     Gosh!     You  can't  reason  with  a 


162      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

kid  like  Bud ;  you  've  got  to  take  him  on  an  equal 
footing,  and  when  he  goes  too  far,  just  set  down  on 
-him  and  no  argument  about  it.  Kate  's  going  to 
.  have  her  hands  full  while  I  'm  gone,  if  —  " 

"  She  sure  will,  Ches,  unless  you  get  somebody  here 
you  can  depend  on,"  was  the  way  in  which  Ford 
made  his  opportunity.  "  You  Ve  got  the  idea,  some- 
how, that  cutting  out  whisky  is  like  getting  rid  of 
a  mean  horse.     It 's  something  you  don't  —  " 

"  Oh,  don't  go  worrying  over  that,  no  more," 
Mason  expostulated  hastily.  "  Forget  it.  That 's 
the  quickest  cure;  try  Christian  Science  dope  on  it. 
The  more  you  worry  about  it,  the  more  —  " 

"  But  wait  till  I  tell  you !  That  day  I  went  to 
town,  and  you  came  on  home,  I  got  drunk  as  a  fool, 
Ches.    I  don't  know  what  all  I  did,  but  I  know  —  " 

"  Well,  I  know  —  more  about  it  than  you  do,  I 
,  reckon,"  Mason  cut  in  dryly.  "  I  was  told  five 
different  times,  by  one  stranger  and  four  of  these  here 
trouble-peddlin'  friends  that  clutter  the  country. 
That 's  all  right,  Ford.  A  little  slip  like  that  -  -  " 
He  held  out  his  hand  for  Ford's  sack  of  tobacco. 


"AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     163 

"  I  ain't  the  least  bit  uneasy  over  that,  old  man. 
1  'in  just  as  sure  as  I  stand  here  that  you  're  going 
to  pull  up,  all  right." 

"  I  know  you  are,  Ches."  Ford's  voice  was  hum- 
ble. "  That 's  the  hell  of  it.  You  're  more  sure  than 
sensible  —  but  —  But  look  at  it  like  I  was  a 
stranger,  Ches.  Just  forget  you  ever  knew  me  when 
I  was  kinda  half-way  decent.  You  ain't  a  fool,  even 
if  you  do  act  like  one.  You  know  what  I  'm  up 
against  I  'm  going  to  put  up  the  damnedest  fight 
I  've  got  in  me,  but  I  don't  want  you  to  take  any 
gamble  on  it.  Maybe  I  '11  win,  and  then  again  maybe 
I  won't.  Maybe  I'll  go  down  and  out.  I  don't 
know  —  I  don't  feel  half  as  sure  of  myself  as  I  did 
before  I  made  that  bobble  in  town.  Before  that,  I 
did  kinda  have  an  idea  that  all  there  was  to  it  was 
to  quit.  I  thought,  once  I  made  up  my  mind,  that 
would  settle  it.  But  that 's  just  the  commencement ; 
you  Ve  got  to  fight  something  inside  of  you  that 's  as 
husky  a  fighter  as  you  are.    You  've  got  to  —  " 

"  There !  "     Mason  reached  out  and  tapped  him 
impressively  on  the  arm  with  a  match  he  was  about 


164      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

to  light.  "  Now  you  've  got  the  bull  right  by  the 
horns  !  You  ain't  so  darned  sure  of  yourself  now  — 
and  so  I  'm  dead  willing  to  gamble  on  you.  I  ain't 
a  bit  afraid  to  go  off  and  let  you  have  full  swing." 

"  Well,  I  hope  you  won't  feel  like  kicking  me  all 
over  the  ranch  when  you  get  back,"  Ford  said,  after 
a  long  pause,  during  which  Mason's  whole  attention 
seemed  centered  upon  his  cigarette.  "  It 's  going  to 
be  an  uphill  climb,  old-timer  —  and  a  blamed  long 
hill  at  that.  And  it 's  going  to  be  pretty  darned 
slippery,  in  places." 

"  I  sabe  that,  all  right,"  grinned  Mason.  "  But  I 
sabe  you  pretty  well,  too.  You  '11  dig  in  your  toes 
and  hang  on  by  your  eye-winkers  if  you  have  to. 
But  you  '11  get  up,  all  right ;  I  '11  bank  on  that. 

"  Speaking  of  booze-fighters,"  he  went  on,  without 
giving  Ford  a  chance  to  contradict  him,  "  I  wish 
you  'd  keep  an  eye  on  old  Mose.  Now,  there  's  a 
man  that  '11  drink  whisky  as  long  as  it 's  made,  if 
he  can  get  it.  I  would  n't  trust  that  old  devil  as 
far  as  I  can  throw  him,  and  that  ?s  a  fact.  I  have 
to  watch  pretty  close,  to  keep  it  off  the  ranch,  and 


(  i 


AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     165 


him  on.  It 's  the  only  way  to  get  along  with  him  — 
lie  's  apt  to  run  amuck,  if  he  gets  full  enough ;  and 
good  cooks  are  as  scarce  as  good  foremen."  A  heart- 
ening smile  went  with  the  last  sentence. 

"  If  he  does  make  connections  with  the  booze,  don't 
can  him,  Ford,  if  you  can  help  it.  Just  shut  him 
up  somewhere  till  he  gets  over  it.  There's  nothing 
holds  good  men  with  an  outfit  like  the  right  kind  of 
grub  —  and  Mose  sure  can  cook.  The  rest  of  the 
men  you  can  handle  to  suit  yourself.  Slim  and 
Johnnie  are  all  right  over  at  Ten  Mile  —  you  made 
a  good  stab  when  you  picked  them  two  out  —  and 
you  will  want  a  couple  of  fellows  here  besides  Walt,. 
to  feed  them  calves.  When  the  cows  are  throwed 
back  on  the  range  and  the  fences  gone  over  careful 
—  I  ought  to  have  tended  to  that  before,  but  I  got 
to  putting  it  off  —  you  can  pay  off  what  men  you 
don't  need  or  want." 

There  was  no  combating  the  friendship  of  a  man 
like  that.  Ford  mentally  squared  his  shoulders  and 
set  his  feet  upon  the  uphill  trail. 

He  realized  to  the  full   the  tribute  Mason  paid 


166      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

to  his  innate  trustworthiness  by  leaving  him  there, 
master  of  the  ranch  and  guardian  of  his  household 
god  —  and  goddess,  to  say  nothing  of  Josephine, 
whom  Mason  openly  admired  and  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  family. 

Of  a  truth,  it  would  seem  that  she  had  really  be- 
come so.  Ford  had  gathered,  bit  by  bit,  the  informa- 
tion that  she  was  quite  alone  in  the  world,  so  far 
as  immediate  relatives  were  concerned,  and  that  she 
was  Kate's  cousin,  and  that  Kate  insisted  that  this 
was  to  be  her  home,  from  now  on.  Josephine's  ankle 
was  well  enough  now  so  that  she  was  often  to  be 
met  in  unexpected  places  about  the  ranch,  he  dis- 
covered. And  though  she  was  not  friendly,  she  was 
less  openly  antagonistic  than  she  had  been  —  and 
when  all  was  said  and  done,  eminently  able  to  take 
care  of  herself. 

So  also  was  Kate,  for  that  matter.  No  sooner 
was  her  beloved  Chester  out  of  sight  over  the  hill 
a  mile  away,  than  Mrs.  Kate  dried  her  wifely  tears 
and  laid  hold  of  her  scepter  with  a  firmness  that 
amused  Ford  exceedingly.     She  ordered  Dick  up  to 


"AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     167 

work  in  the  depressed-looking  area  before  the  house, 
which  she  called  her  flower  garden,  a  task  which  Dick 
seemed  perfectly  willing  to  perform,  by  the  way  — 
although  his  assistance  would  have  been  more  than 
welcome  at  other  work  than  tying  scraggly  rose  bushes 
and  protecting  them  from  the  winter  already  at  hand. 

As  to  Buddy,  he  surely  would  have  resented,  more 
keenly  than  the  women,  the  implication  that  he 
needed  any  one  to  take  care  of  him.  Buddy's  al- 
legiance to  Ford  was  wavering,  at  that  time.  Dick 
had  gone  to  some  trouble  to  alter  an  old  pair  of 
chaps  so  that  Buddy  could  wear  them,  and  his  star 
was  in  the  ascendant;  a  pair  of  chaps  with  fringes 
were,  in  Buddy's  estimation,  a  surer  pledge  of  friend- 
ship and  favor  than  the  privilege  of  feeding  a  lame 
horse. 

Buddy  was  rather  terrible,  sometimes.  He  had 
a  way  of  standing  back  unnoticed,  and  of  listening 
when  he  was  believed  to  be  engrossed  in  his  play. 
Afterward  he  was  apt  to  say  the  things  which  should 
not  be  said ;  in  other  words,  he  was  the  average  child 
of  seven,  living  without  playmates,  and  so  forced  by 


168      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

his  environment  to  interest  himself  in  the  endless 
drama  played  by  the  grown-ups  around  him.  Buddy, 
therefore,  was  not  unusually  startling,  one  day  at 
dinner,  when  he  looked  up  from  spatting  his  potato 
into  a  flat  cake  on  his  plate. 

"  What  hill  you  going  to  climb,  Ford  ? "  was  his 
manner  of  exploding  his  bomb.  "  Bald  pinnacle  ? 
I  can  climb  that  hill  myself." 

"  I  don't  know  as  I  'm  going  to  climb  any  hills  at 
all,"  Ford  said  indulgently,  accepting  another  help- 
ing of  potato  salad  from  Mrs.  Kate. 

"  You  told  dad  before  he  went  to  gran'ma's  house 
you  was  going  to  climb  a  big,  long  hill,  and  he  was 
more  sure  than  sensible."  He  giggled  and  showed 
where  two  front  teeth  were  missing  from  among  their 
fellows.  "  Dad  told  him  he  'd  make  it,  but  he  'd 
have  to  dig  in  his  toes  and  hang  on  by  his  eye- 
winkers,"  he  added  to  the  two  women.  "  Gee !  I  'd 
like  to  see  Ford  hang  onto  a  hill  by  his  eye-winkers. 
Jo  could  do  it  —  she's  got  winkers  six  feet  long." 

Miss  Josephine  had  been  looking  at  Ford's  face 
going  red,  as  enlightenment  came  to  him,  but  when 


<  ( 


AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     169 

she  caught  a  quick  glance  leveled  at  her  lashes,  she 
drooped  them  immediately  so  that  they  almost 
touched  her  cheeks.  Bud  gave  a  squeal  and  pointed 
to  her  with  his  fork. 

"  Jo  's  blushing !  I  guess  she  's  ashamed  because 
she  's  got  such  long  winkers,  and  Ford  keeps  looking 
at  'em  all  the  time.  Why  don't  you  shave  'em  off 
with  dad's  razor  ?  Then  Ford  would  like  you,  maybe. 
He  don't  now.     He  told  dad  —  " 

"  Robert  Chester  Mason,  do  you  want  me  to  get 
the  hairbrush?"  This,  it  need  not  be  explained, 
from  Mrs.  Kate,  in  a  voice  that  portended  grave 
disaster. 

"  I  guess  we  can  get  along  without  it,  mamma," 
Buddy  answered  her,  with  an  ingratiating  smile. 
Even  in  the  first  seven  years  of  one's  life,  one  learns 
elementary  principles  of  diplomacy.  He  did  not 
retire  from  the  conversation,  but  he  prudently 
changed  the  subject  to  what  he  considered  a  more 
pleasant  channel. 

4  Dick  likes  you  anyway,  Jo,"  he  informed  her 
soothingly.     "  He  likes  you,  winkers  and  all.     I  can 


170      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

tell,  all  right.  When  you  go  out  for  a  ride  he  gives 
me  nickels  if  I  tell  him  where  —  " 

"  Eobert  Ches  —  " 

"  Oh,  all  right."  Buddy's  tone  was  wearily  tol- 
erant. "  A  man  never  knows  what  to  talk  about 
to  women,  anyway.  I  'd  hate  to  be  married  to  'em  — 
would  n't  you,  Ford  ?  " 

"  A  little  boy  like  you  — "  began  his  mother, 
somewhat  pinker  of  cheeks  than  usual. 

"  I  guess  I  'm  pretty  near  a  man,  now."  He 
turned  his  eyes  to  Ford,  consciously  ignoring  the 
feminine  members  of  his  family.  "  If  I  had  a  wife," 
he  stated  calmly,  "  I  'd  snub  her  up  to  a  post  and 
then '  I  'd  talk  to  her  about  anything  I  damn 
pleased !  " 

Mrs.  Kate  rose  up  then  in  all  the  terrifying  dig- 
nity of  outraged  motherhood,  grasped  Buddy  by  the 
wrist,  and  led  him  away,  in  the  direction  of  the 
hairbrush,  if  one  would  judge  by  Buddy's  reluctance 
to  go. 

"  So  you  are  going  to  climb  the  —  Big  Hill,  are 
you  ?  "  Miss  Josephine  observed,  when  the  two  were 


"AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     171 

quite  alone.  "  It  is  to  be  hoped,  Mr.  Campbell,  that 
you  won't  find  it  as  steep  as  it  looks  —  from  the 
bottom." 

Ford  was  not  an  adept  at  reading  what  lies  under- 
neath the  speech  of  a  woman.  To  himself  he  ac- 
cented the  last  three  words,  so  that  they  overshad- 
owed all  the  rest  and  made  her  appear  to  remind 
him  where  he  stood  —  at  the  bottom. 

"  I  suppose  a  hollow  does  look  pretty  high,  to  a 
man  down  a  well,"  he  retorted,  glancing  into  his 
teacup  because  he  felt  and. was  resisting  an  impulse 
to  look  at  her. 

"  One  can  always  keep  climbing,"  she  murmured, 
"  and  never  give  up  —  "  Miss  Josephine,  also,  was 
tilting  her  teacup  and  looking  studiously  into  it 
as  if  she  would  read  her  fortune  in  the  specks  of 
tea  leaves  there. 

"  Like  the  frog  in  the  well  —  that  climbed  one 
jump  and  fell  back  two !  "  he  interrupted,  but  she 
paid  no  attention,  and  went  on. 

"  And  the  reward  for  reaching  the  top  —  v 

"  Is  there  supposed  to  be  a  reward  ?  "    Ford  could 


172      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

not  tell  why  he  asked  her  that,  nor  why  he  glanced 
stealthily  at  her  from  under  his  eyebrows  as  he 
awaited  her  reply. 

"  There  —  might  —  there  usually  is  a  reward  for 
any  great  achievement  —  and  —  ';  Miss  Josephine 
was  plainly  floundering  where  she  had  hoped  to  float 
airily  upon  the  surface. 

"  What 's  the  reward  for  —  climbing  hills,  for  in- 
stance ?  "  He  looked  at  her  full,  now,  and  his  lips 
were  ready  to  smile. 

Miss  Josephine  looked  uneasily  at  the  door.  "I  — 
really,  I  never  —  investigated  the  matter  at  all." 
She  gave  a  twitch  of  shoulders  and  met  his  eyes 
steadily.  "  The  inner  satisfaction  of  having  climbed 
the  hill,  I  suppose,"  she  said,  in  the  tone  of  one  who 
has  at  last  reached  firm  ground.  "  Will  you  have 
more  tea,  Mr.  Campbell  ?  " 

Her  final  words  were  chilly  and  impersonal,  but 
Ford  left  the  table,  smiling  to  himself.  At  the  door 
he  met  Dick,  whom  Buddy  had  mentioned  with  dis- 
aster to  himself.  Dick  saw  the  smile,  and  within 
the  room  he  saw  Miss  Josephine  sitting  alone,  her 


<  c 


AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     173 

chin  resting  in  her  two  palms  and  her  eyes  fixed 
upon  vacancy. 

"Hello,"  Ford  greeted  somewhat  inattentively. 
"  Do  you  want  me  for  anything,  Dick  % ,: 

"  Can't  say  I  do,"  drawled  Dick,  brushing  past 
Ford  in  the  doorway. 

Ford  hesitated  long  enough  to  give  him  a  second 
glance  —  an  attentive  enough  glance  this  time  —  and 
went  his  way;  without  the  smile,  however. 

"  Lordy  me !  "  he  said  to  himself,  when  his  foot 
touched  the  bridge,  but  he  did  not  add  anything  to 
the  exclamation.  He  was  wondering  when  it  was 
that  he  had  begun  to  dislike  Dick  Thomas;  a  long 
while,  it  seemed  to  him,  though  he  had  never  till 
just  now  quite  realized  it,  beyond  resenting  his 
covert  sneer  that  day  in  town.  He  had  once  or  twice 
since  suspected  Dick  of  a  certain  disappointment 
that  he  himself  was  not  foreman  of  the  Double 
Cross,  and  once  he  had  asked  Mason  why  he  had  n't 
given  the  place  to  Dick. 

"  Did  n't  want  to,"  Mason  had  replied  succinctly, 
and  let  it  go  at  that. 


174      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

If  Dick  cherished  any  animosity,  however,  he  had 
not  made  it  manifest  in  actual  hostility.  On  the 
contrary,  he  had  shown  a  distinct  inclination  to  be 
friendly ;  a  friendliness  which  led  the  two  to  pair  off 
frequently  when  they  were  riding,  and  to  talk  over 
past  range  experiences  more  or  less  intimately.  Look- 
ing back  over  the  six  weeks  just  behind  him,  Ford 
could  not  remember  a  single  incident  —  a  sentence, 
even  —  that  had  been  unj>leasant,  unless  he  clung  to 
his  belief  in  Dick's  contempt,  and  that  he  had  since 
set  down  to  his  own  super-sensitiveness.    And  yet  — 

"  He  's  got  bad  eyes,"  he  concluded.  "  That 's 
what  it  is ;  I  never  did  like  eyes  the  color  of  polished 
steel ;  nickel-plated  eyes,  I  call  'em;  all  shine  and  no 
color.    Still,  a  man  ain't  to  blame  for  his  eyes." 

Then  Dick  overtook  him  with  Buddy  trailing,  red- 
eyed,  at  his  heels,  and  Ford  forgot,  in  the  work  to 
jbe  done  that  day,  all  about  his  speculations.  He  in- 
volved himself  in  a  fruitless  argument  with  Buddy, 
upon  the  subject  of  what  a  seven-year-old  can  stand 
in  the  way  of  riding,  and  yielded  finally  before  the 
quiver  of  Buddy's  lips.     They  were  only  going  over 


"AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     175 

on  Long  Ridge,  anyway,  and  the  day  was  fine,  and 
Buddy  had  frequently  ridden  as  far,  according  to 
Dick.  Indeed,  it  was  Dick's  easy-natured,  "Ah,  let 
the  kid  go,  why  don't  you  ?  "  which  gave  Ford  an 
excuse  for  reconsidering. 

And  Buddy  repaid  him  after  his  usual  fashion. 
At  the  supper  table  he  looked  up,  round-eyed,  from 
his  plate. 

"  Gee,  but  I  'm  hungry  !  "  he  sighed.  "  I  eat  and 
eat,  just  like  a  horse  eating  hay,  and  I  just  can't  fill 
up  the  hole  in  me." 

"  There,  never  mind,  honey,"  Mrs.  Kate  interposed 
hastily,  fearing  worse.  "Do  you  want  more  bread 
and  butter  %  " 

"  Yes  —  you  always  use  bread  for  stuffing,  don't 
you  ?  I  want  to  be  stuffed.  All  the  way  home  my 
b  —  my  stomerch  was  a-flopping  against  my  back- 
bone, just  like  Dick's.     Only  Dick  said  —  " 

"  Xever  mind  what  Dick  said."  Mrs.  Kate  thrust 
the  bread  toward  him,  half  buttered. 

"  Dick 's  mad,  I  guess.  He 's  mad  at  Ford, 
too." 


176      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Buddy  regarded  his  mother  gravely  over  the  slice 
of  bread. 

"  First  I  've  heard  of  it,"  Ford  remarked  lightly. 
"  I  think  you  must  be  mistaken,  old-timer." 

But  Buddy  never  considered  himself  mistaken 
about  anything,  and  he  did  not  like  being  told  that 
he  was,  even  when  the  pill  was  sweetened  with  the 
term  "  old-timer."  He  rolled  his  eves  at  Ford  re- 
sentfully. 

"  Dick  is  mad !  He  got  mad  when  you  galloped 
over  where  Jo's  red  ribbon  was  hanging  onto  a  bush. 
I  saw  him  a-scowling  when  you  rolled  it  up  and  put 
it  in  your  shirt  pocket.  Dick  wanted  that  ribbon  for 
his  bridle;  and  you  better  give  it  to  him.  Jo  ain't 
your  girl.  She  's  Dick's  girl.  And  you  have  to  tie 
the  ribbon  of  your  bestest  girl  on  your  bridle.  That 's 
why,"  he  added,  with  belated  gallantry,  "  I  tic  my 
own  mamma's  ribbons  on  mine.  And,"  he  returned 
with  terrible  directness  to  the  real  issue,  "  Jo  's  Dick's 
girl,  'cause  he  said  so.  I  heard  him  tell  Jim  Felton 
she  's  his  steady,  all  right  —  and  you  are  his  girl, 
ain't  you,  Jo  ?  " 


(  i 


AN  UPHILL   CLIMB!"     177 

His  mother  had  tried  at  first  to  stop  him,  had 
given  up  in  despair,  and  was  now  sitting  in  a  rather 
tragic  calm,  waiting  for  what  might  come  of  his 
speech. 

Josephine  might  have  saved  herself  some  anxious 
moments,  if  she  had  been  so  minded ;  perhaps  she 
would  have  been  minded,  if  she  had  not  caught 
Ford's  eyes  fixed  rather  intently  upon  her,  and  sensed 
the  expectancy  in  them.  She  bit  her  lip,  and  then 
she  laughed. 

"  A  man  should  n't  make  an  assertion  of  that 
sort,"  she  said  quizzically,  in  the  direction  of  Buddy 
—  though  her  meaning  went  straight  across  the  table 
to  another  —  "  unless  he  has  some  reason  for  feeling 
very  sure." 

Buddy  tried  to  appear  quite  clear  as  to  her  mean- 
ing. "  Well,  if  you  are  Dick's  girl,  then  you  better 
make  Ford  give  that  ribbon  —  " 

"  I  have  plenty  of  ribbons,  Buddy,"  Josephine  in- 
terrupted, smiling  at  him  still.  "  Don't  you  want 
one  ?  " 

"I  tie  my  own  mamma's  ribbons  on  my  bridle," 


173      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Buddy  rebuffed.  "  My  mamma  is  my  girl  —  you 
ain't.     You  can  give  your  ribbons  to  Dick." 

"  Mamma  won't  be  your  girl  if  you  don't  stop  talk- 
ing so  much  at  the  table  —  and  elsewhere,"  Mrs. 
Kate  informed  him  sternly,  with  a  glance  of  trepida- 
tion at  the  others.  "  A  little  boy  must  n't  talk  about 
grown-ups,  and  what  they  do  or  say." 

"  What  can  I  talk  about,  then  ?  The  boys  talk 
about  their  girls  all  the  time  —  " 

"  I  wish  to  goodness  I  had  let  you  go  with  your 
dad.  I  shall  not  let  you  eat  with  us,  anyway,  if  you 
don't  keep  quiet.  You  're  getting  perfectly  impossi- 
ble." Which  even  Buddy  understood  as  a  protest 
which  was  not  to  be  taken  seriously. 

Ford  stayed  long  enough  to  finish  drinking  his 
tea,  and  then  he  left  the  house  with  what  he  pri- 
vately considered  a  perfectly  casual  manner.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  was  extremely  self-conscious  about 
it,  so  that  Mrs.  Kate  felt  justified  in  mentioning  it, 
and  in  asking  Josephine  a  question  or  two  —  when 
she  had  prudently  made  an  errand  elsewhere  for 
Buddy. 


i  ( 


AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     179 

Josephine,  having  promptly  disclaimed  all  knowl- 
edge or  interest  pertaining  to  the  affair,  Mrs.  Kate 
spoke  her  mind  plainly. 

"  If  Ford  's  going  to  fall  in  love  with  you,  Phenie," 
she  said,  "  I  think  you  're  foolish  to  encourage  Dick. 
I  believe  Ford  is  falling;  in  love  with  you.  I  never 
thought  he  even  liked  you  till  to-night,  but  what 
Buddy  said  about  that  ribbon  —  " 

"  I  don't  suppose  Bud  knows  what  he  's  talking 
about  —  any  more  than  you  do,"  snapped  Josephine. 
''  If  you  're  determined  that  I  shall  have  a  love  affair 
on  this  ranch,  I  'm  going  home."  She  planted  her 
chin  in  her  two  palms,  just  as  she  had  done  at  dinner, 
and  stared  into  vacancy. 

''Where?"  asked  Mrs.  Kate  pointedly,  and  then 
atoned  for  it  whole-heartedly.  "  There,  I  did  n't 
mean  that  —  only  —  this  is  your  home.  It 's  got  to 
be ;  I  won't  let  it  be  anywhere  else.  And  you  need  n't 
have  any  love  affair,  Phene  —  you  know  that.  Only 
you  shan't  hurt  Ford.  I  think  he  's  perfectly  splen- 
did !  What  he  did  for  Chester  —  I  —  I  can't  think 
of  that  without  getting  a  lump  in  my  throat,  Phene. 


180     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

Think  of  it!  Going  without  food  himself,  because 
there  wasn't  enough  for  two,  and  —  and  —  well,  he 
just  simply  threw  away  his  own  chance  of  getting 
through,  to  give  Chester  a  better  one.  It  was  the 
bravest  thing  I  ever  heard  of !  And  the  way  he  has 
conquered  —  ?  " 

"  How  do  you  know  he  has  conquered  ?  Rumor 
says  he  hasn't.  And  lots  of  men  save  other  men's 
lives ;  it 's  being  done  every  day,  and  no  one  hears 
much  about  it.  You  think  it  was  something  ex- 
traordinary, just  because  it  happened  to  be  Chester 
that  was  saved.  Anybody  will  do  all  he  can  for  a 
sick  partner,  when  they  're  away  out  in  the  wilds. 
I  have  n't  a  doubt  Dick  would  have  done  the  very 
same  thing,  when  it  comes  to  that."  Josephine  got 
up  from  the  table  then,  and  went  haughtily  into  her 
own  room. 

Mrs.  Kate  retired  quite  as  haughtily  into  the 
kitchen,  and  there  was  a  distinct  coolness  between 
them  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  and  a  part  of  the  next. 
The  chill  of  it  affected  Ford  sufficiently  to  keep  him 
away  from  the  house  as  much  as  possible,  and  un- 


"AN   UPHILL   CLIMB!"     181 

usually  silent  and  unlike  himself  when  he  was  with 
the  men. 

But,  unlike  many  another,  he  did  not  know  that 
his  recurrent  dissatisfaction  with  life  was  directly 
traceable  to  the  apparent  intimacy  between  Josephine 
and  Dick.  Ford,  if  he  had  tried  to  put  his  gloomy 
unrest  into  words,  would  have  transposed  his  trouble 
and  would  have  mistaken  effect  for  cause.  In  other 
words,  he  would  have  ignored  Josephine  and  Dick 
entirely,  and  would  have  said  that  he  wanted  whisky 
—  and  wanted  it  as  the  damned  are  said  to  want 
water. 


.   XII 
- 

MS] 

■ 

.  -       . 
- 

- 

.     -     . 

I 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  183 

first  sympathetic  ear  that  came  his  way.  It  hap- 
pened that  upon  this  occasion  the  ear  arrived  speed- 
ily upon  the  head  of  Dick  Thomas. 

"  Matter,  Mose?  "  he  queried,  sidestepping  the  cat, 
which  gave  a  long  leap  straight  for  the  door,  Avhen 
it  opened.     i;  Cat  been  licking  the  butter  again  i  " 

Mose  grunted  and  slammed  three  pie  tins  into  a 
cupboard  with  such  force  that  two  of  them  bounced 
out  and  rolled  across  the  floor.  One  came  within 
reach  of  his  foot,  and  he  kicked  it  into  the  wood-box, 
and  swore  at  it  while  it  was  on  the  way.  "  And  I 
wisht  it  was  Ford  Campbell  himself,  the  snoopin', 
stingy,  kitchen-grannying,  booze-fighting  son-of-a- 
sour-dough  bannock  !  "  he  finished  prayerfully. 

"  He  surely  has  n't  tried  to  mix  in  here,  and 
meddle  with  you  ?  "  Dick  asked,  helping  himself  to 
a  piece  of  pie.  You  know  the  tone;  it  had  just  that 
inflection  of  surprised  sympathy  which  makes  you 
tell  your  troubles  without  that  reservation  which  a 
more  nemral  listener  would  uncon.-cioii.~lv  impel. 

I  am  not  going  to  give  Mose's  version,  1  he 

warped  the  story  to  make  it  fit  his  own  indignation, 


184      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

and  did  not  do  Ford  justice.  This,  then,  is  the  exact 
truth : 

Ford  chanced  to  be  walking  up  along  the  edge  of  the 
gully  which  ran  past  the  bunk-house,  and  into  which 
empty  cans  and  other  garbage  were  thrown.  Some- 
times a  can  fell  short,  so  that  all  the  gully  edge  was 
liberally  decorated  with  a  gay  assortment  of  canners' 
labels.  Just  as  he  had  come  up,  Mose  had  opened  the 
kitchen  door  and  thrown  out  a  cream  can,  which  had 
fallen  in  front  of  Ford  and  trickled  a  white  stream 
upon  the  frozen  ground.  Ford  had  stooped  and  picked 
up  the  can,  had  shaken  it,  and  heard  the  slosh  which 
told  of  waste.  He  had  investigated  further,  and 
decided  that  throwing  out  a  cream  can  before  it  was 
quite  empty  was  not  an  accident  with  Mose,  but 
might  be  termed  a  habit.  He  had  taken  Exhibit  A 
to  the  kitchen,  but  had  laughed  while  he  spoke  of 
it.    And  these  were  his  exact  words : 

"  Lordy  me,  Mose !  Somebody  's  liable  to  come 
here  and  get  rich  off  us,  if  we  don't  look  out.  He  '11 
gather  up  the  cream  cans  you  throw  into  the  dis- 
card and  start  a  dairy  on  the  leavings."     Then  he 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  185 

liad  set  the  can  down  on  the  water  bench  beside  the 
door  and  gone  away. 

"  I  've  been  cookin'  for  cow-camps  ever  since  I 
got  my  knee  stiffened  up  so  's  't  I  could  n't  ride  — 
and  that  's  sixteen  year  ago  last  Fourth  —  and  it 's 
the  first  time  I  ever  had  any  darned  foreman  go 
snoopin'  around  my  back  door  to  see  if  I  scrape  out 
the  cans  clean !  "  Mose  seated  himself  upon  a  comer 
of  the  table  with  the  stiff  leg  for  a  brace  and  the 
good  one  swinging  free,  and  folded  his  bare  arms 
upon  his  heaving  chest. 

"  And  that  ain't  all,  Dick,"  he  went  on  aggrievedly. 
"  He  went  and  cut  down  the  order  I  give  him  for 
grub.  That 's  something  Ches  never  done  — not  with 
me,  anyway.  Asked  me  —  asked  me,  what  I  wanted 
with  so  much  choc'late.  And  I  wanted  boiled  cider 
for  m'  mince-meat,  and  never  got  it.  And  brandy, 
too  —  only  I  did  n't  put  that  down  on  the  list ;  I 
knowed  better  than  to  write  it  out.  But  I  give 
Jim  money  —  out  uh  my  own  pocket !  —  to  git  some 
with,  and  he  never  done  it.  Said  Ford  told  him 
p'tic'ler  not  to  bring  out  nothin'  any  nearer  drinkable 


186      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

than  lemon  extract !  I  've  got  a  darned  good  mind," 
he  added  somberly,  "  to  fire  the  hull  works  into  the 
gully.  He  don't  belong  on  no  cow  ranch.  Where 
he  'd  oughta  be  is  runnin'  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  So  darned 
afraid  of  a  pint  uh  brandy  —  " 

"  If  I  was  dead  sure  your  brains  would  n't  get 
to  leaking  out  your  mouth,"  Dick  began  guardedly, 
"  I  might  put  you  wise  to  something."  He  took  a 
drink  of  water,  oj>ened  the  door  that  he  might  throw 
out  what  remained  in  the  dipper,  and  made  sure 
that  no  one  was  near  the  bunk-house  before  he  closed 
the  door  again.     Mose  watched  him  interestedly. 

"  You  know  me,  Dick  —  I  never  do  tell  all  I 
know,"  he  hinted  heavily. 

"  Well,"  Dick  stood  with  his  hand  upon  the  door- 
knob and  a  sly  grin  upon  his  face,  "  I  ain't  saying 
a  word  about  anything.  Only  —  if  you  might 
happen  to  want  some  —  eggs  —  for  your  mince  pies, 
you  might  look  good  under  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  third  haystack,  counting  from  the  big  corral.  I 
believe  there  's  a  —  nest  —  there." 

"  The  deuce !  "     Mose  brightened  understanding^ 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  187 

and  drummed  with  his  fingers  upon  his  bare,  dough- 
caked  forearm.  "  Do  yuh  know  who  —  er  —  what 
hen  laid  'em  there  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  said  Dick  with  a  rising  inflection.  "  The 
head  he-hen  uh  the  flock.  But  if  I  was  going  to  hunt 
eggs,  I  'd  take  down  a  chiny  egg  and  leave  it  in  the 
nest,  Mose." 

"  But  I  ain't  got  —  "  Mose  caught  Dick's  pale 
glance  resting  with  what  might  be  considered  some 
significance  upon  the  vinegar  jug,  and  he  stopped 
short.  "  That  would  n't  work,"  he  commented 
vaguely. 

"  Well,  I  've  got  to  be  going.  Boss  might  can  me 
if  he  caught  me  loafing  around  here,  eating  pie  when 
I  ought  to  be  working.  Ford  's  a  fine  fellow,  don't 
you  think  ? ':  He  grinned  and  went  out,  and  imme- 
diately returned,  complaining  that  he  never  could 
stand  socks  with  a  hole  in  the  toe,  and  he  guessed 
he  'd  have  to  hunt  through  his  war-bag  for  a  good 
pair. 

Mose,  as  need  scarcely  be  explained,  went  imme- 
diately to  the  stable  to  hunt  eggs;  and  Dick,  in  tho 


188      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

next  room,  smiled  to  himself  when  he  heard  the  door 
slam  behind  him.  Dick  did  not  change  his  socks 
just  then;  he  went  first  into  the  kitchen  and  busied 
himself  there,  and  he  continued  to  smile  to  himself. 
Later  he  went  out  and  met  Ford,  who  was  riding 
moodily  up  from  the  river  field. 

"  Say,  I  'm  going  to  be  an  interfering  kind  of  a 
cuss,  and  put  you  next  to  something,"  he  began,  with 
just  the  right  degree  of  hesitation  in  his  manner. 
"  It  ain't  any  of  my  business,  but  —  "  He  stopped 
and  lighted  a  cigarette.  "  If  you  '11  come  up  to 
the  bunk-house,  I  '11  show  you  something  funny !  " 

Ford  dismounted  in  silence,  led  his  horse  into  the 
stable,  and  without  waiting  to  unsaddle,  followed 
Dick. 

"  We  've  got  to  hurry,  before  Mose  gets  back  from 
hunting  eggs,"  Dick  remarked,  by  way  of  explaining 
the  long  strides  he  took.  "  And  of  course  I  'm  taking 
it  for  granted,  Ford,  that  you  won't  say  anything. 
I  kinda  thought  you  ought  to  know,  maybe — but 
I  'd  never  say  a  word  if  I  did  n't  feel  pretty  sure 
you  'd  keep  it  behind  your  teeth." 


AT  HAND-GRIPS  189 

"  Well  —  I  'm  waiting  to  see  what  it  is,"  Ford 
replied  non-committally. 

Dick  opened  the  kitchen  door,  and  led  Ford 
through  that  into  the  hunk-room.  "  You  wait  here 
—  I  'm  afraid  Mose  might  come  back,"  he  said,  and 
went  into  the  kitchen.  When  he  returned  he  had 
a  gallon  jug  in  his  hand.    He  was  still  smiling. 

"  I  went  to  mix  me  up  some  soda-water  for  heart- 
burn," he  said,  "  and  when  I  picked  up  this  jug, 
Mose  took  it  out  of  my  hand  and  said  it  was  boiled 
cider,  that  he  'd  got  for  mince-meat.  So  when  he 
went  out,  I  took  a  taste.  Here:  You  sample  it 
yourself,  Ford.  If  that 's  boiled  cider,  I  would  n't 
mind  having  a  barrel !  " 

Ford  took  the  jug,  pulled  the  cork,  and  sniffed 
at  the  opening.  He  did  not  say  anything,  but  he 
looked  up  at  Dick  significantly. 

"  Taste  it  once !  "  urged  Dick  innocently.  "  I  'd 
just  like  to  have  you  see  the  brand  of  slow  poison 
a  fool  like  Mose  will  pour  down  him." 

Ford  hesitated,  sniffed,  started  to  set  down  the 
jug,  then  lifted  it  and  took  a  swallow. 


190      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  That  is  n't  as  bad  as  some  I  've  seen,"  he  pro- 
nounced evenly,  shoving  in  the  cork.  "  Nor  as  good," 
he  added  conservatively.    "  I  wonder  where  he  got  it." 

"  Search  me  —  oh,  by  jiminy,  here  he  comes !  I  'm 
going  to  take  a  scoot,  Ford.  Don't  give  me  away, 
will  you  ?  And  if  I  was  you,  I  would  n't  say  any- 
thing to  Mose  —  I  know  that  old  devil  pretty  well. 
He  '11  keep  mighty  quiet  about  it  himself  —  unless 
you  jump  him  about  it.  Then  he  '11  roar  around  to 
everybody  he  sees,  and  claim  it  was  a  plant." 

He  slid  stealthily  through  the  outer  door,  and  Ford 
saw  him  run  down  into  the  gully  and  disappear, 
while  Mose  was  yet  half-way  from  the  stable. 

Ford  sat  on  the  edge  of  a  bunk  and  looked  at  the 
jug  beside  him.  If  Dick  had  deliberately  planned 
to  tempt  him,  he  had  chosen  the  time  well;  and  if 
he  had  not  done  it  deliberately,  there  must  have  been 
a  malignant  spirit  abroad  that  day. 

For  twenty-four  hours  Ford  had  been  more  than 
usually  restless  and  moody.  Even  Buddy  had  no- 
ticed that,  and  complained  that  Ford  was  cross  and 
would  n't  talk  to  him ;   whereupon  Mrs.   Kate  had 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  191 

scolded  Josephine  and  accused  her  of  being  responsi- 
ble for  his  gloom  and  silence.  Since  Josephine's 
conscience  sustained  the  charge,  she  resented  the  ac- 
cusation and  proceeded  deliberately  to  add  to  its  jus- 
tice ;  which  did  not  make  Ford  any  the  happier,  you 
may  be  sure.  For  when  a  man  reaches  that  mental 
state  which  causes  him  to  carry  a  girl's  ribbon  folded 
carefully  into  the  most  secret  compartment  of  his 
pocketbook,  and  to  avoid  the  girl  herself  and  yet  feel 
like  committing  assault  and  battery  with  intent  to 
kill,  because  some  other  man  occasionally  rides  with 
her  for  an  hour  or  two,  he  is  extremely  sensitive  to 
averted  glances  and  chilly  tones  and  monosyllabic 
conversation. 

Since  the  day  before,  when  she  had  ridden  as  far 
as  the  stage  road  with  Dick,  when  he  went  to  the 
'  line-camp,  Ford  had  been  fighting  the  desire  to  saddle 
a  horse  and  ride  to  town ;  and  the  thing  that  lured 
him  townward  confronted  him  now  in  that  gray  stone 
jug  with  the  brown  neck  and  handle. 

He  lifted  the  jug,  shook  it  tentatively,  pulled  out 
the  cork  with  a  jerk  that  was  savage,  and  looked 


192      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

around  the  room  for  some  place  where  he  might 
empty  the  contents  and  have  done  with  temptation; 
but  there  was  no  receptacle  but  the  stove,  so  he  started 
to  the  door  with  it,  meaning  to  pour  it  on  the  ground. 
Mose  just  then  shambled  past  the  window,  and  Ford 
sat  down  to  wait  until  the  cook  was  safe  in  the 
kitchen.  And  all  the  while  the  cork  was  out  of  that 
jug,  so  that  the  fumes  of  the  whisky  rose  madden- 
ingly to  his  nostrils,  and  the  little  that  he  had  swal- 
lowed whipped  the  thirst-devil  to  a  fury  of  desire. 

In  the  kitchen,  Mose  rattled  pans  and  hummed  a 
raucous  tune  under  his  breath,  and  presently  he 
started  again  for  the  stable.  Dick,  desultorily  brac- 
ing a  leaning  post  of  one  of  the  corrals,  saw  him 
coming  and  grinned.  He  glanced  toward  the  bunk- 
house,  where  Ford  still  lingered,  and  the  grin  grew 
broader.  After  that  he  went  all  around  the  corral 
with  his  hammer  and  bucket  of  nails,  tightening  poles 
and  braces  and,  incidentally,  keeping*  an  eye  upon 
the  bunk-house;  and  while  he  worked,  he  whistled 
and  smiled  by  turns.  Dick  was  in  an  unusuaily 
cheerful  mood  that  day. 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  193 

Mose  came  shuffling  up  behind  him  and  stood  with 
his  stiff  leg  thrust  forward  and  his  hands  rolled  up 
in  his  apron.  Dick  could  see  that  he  had  something 
clasped  tightly  under  the  wrappings. 

''Say,  that  he-hen — she  laid  twice  in  the  same 
place !  "  Mose  announced  confidentially.  "  Got  'em 
both  —  for  m'  mince  pies !  "  He  waggled  his  heady 
winked  twice  with  his  left  eye,  and  went  back  to 
the  bunk-house.  ^  I 

Still  Ford  did  not  appear.  Josephine  came,  how- 
ever, in  riding  skirt  and  gray  hat  and  gauntlets, 
treading  lightly  down  the  path  that  lay  all  in  a  yellow 
glow  which  was  not  so  much  sunlight  as  that  mellow 
haze  Avhich  we  call  Indian  Summer.  She  looked 
in  at  the  stable,  and  then  came  straight  over  to  Dick. 
There  was,  when  Josephine  was  her  natural  self, 
something  very  direct  and  honest  about  all  her  move- 
ments, as  if  she  disdained  all  feminine  subterfuges 
and  took  always  the  straight,  open  trail  to  her  object. 

"  Do  you  know  where  Mr.  Campbell  is,  Dick  ? ' 
she  asked  him,  and  added  no  explanation  of  her  de- 
sire to  know. 


194      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

"  I  do,"  said  Dick,  with  the  rising  inflection  which 
was  his  habit,  when  the  words  were  used  for  a  bait 
to  catch  another  question. 

"  Well,  where  is  he,  then  ?  " 

Dick  straightened  up  and  smiled  down  upon  her 
queerly.  "  Count  ten  before  you  ask  me  that  again," 
he  parried,  "  because  maybe  you  'd  rather  not  know." 

Josephine  lifted  her  chin  and  gave  him  that 
straight,  measuring  stare  which  had  so  annoyed  Ford 
the  first  time  he  had  seen  her.  "I  have  counted," 
she  said  calmly  after  a  pause.  "  Where  is  Mr. 
Campbell,  please  ?  "  —  and  the  "  please  "  pushed 
Dick  to  the  very  edge  of  her  favor,  it  was  so  coldly 
formal. 

"  Well,  if  you  're  sure  you  counted  straight,  the 
last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  in  the  bunk-house." 

"  Well  ?  "    The  tone  of  her  demanded  more. 

"  He  was  in  the  bunk-house  —  sitting  close  up  to 
a  gallon  jug  of  whisky."  His  eyelids  flickered. 
"  He  's  there  yet  —  but  I  would  n't  swear  to  the 
gallon  —  " 

"  Thank  you  very  much."     This  time  her  tone 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  195 

pushed  liiin  over  the  edge  and  into  the  depths  of 
her  disapproval.  "  I  was  sure  I  could  depend  upon 
you  —  to  tell !  " 

"  What  else  could  I  do,  when  you  asked  ?  " 

But  she  had  her  back  to  him,  and  was  walking 
away  up  the  path,  and  if  she  heard,  she  did  not 
trouble  to  answer.  But  in  spite  of  her  manner,  Dick 
smiled,  and  brought  the  hammer  down  against  a  post 
with  such  force  that  he  splintered  the  handle. 

"  Something  's  going  to  drop  on  this  ranch,  pretty 
quick,"  he  prophesied,  looking  down  at  the  useless 
tool  in  his  hand.  "  And  if  I  wanted  to  name  it,  I  'd 
call  it  Ford."  He  glanced  up  the  path  to  where 
Josephine  was  walking  straight  to  the  west  door  of 
the  bunk-house,  and  laughed  sourly.  "  Well,  she 
need  n't  take  my  word  for  it  if  she  don't  want  to,  I 
guess,"  he  muttered.  "  Nothing  like  heading  off 
a  critter  —  or  a  woman  —  in  time !  " 

Josephine  did  not  hesitate  upon  the  doorstep.  She 
opened  the  door  and  went  in,  and  shut  the  door 
behind  her  before  the  echo  of  her  step  had  died. 
Ford  was  lying  as  he  had  lain  once  before,  upon  a 


196      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

bunk,  with  his  face  hidden  in  his  folded  arms.  He 
did  not  hear  her  —  at  any  rate  he  did  not  know  who 
it  was,  for  he  did  not  lift  his  head  or  stir. 

Josephine  looked  at  the  jug  upon  the  floor  beside 
him,  bent  and  lifted  it  very  gently  from  the  floor; 
tilted  it  to  the  window  so  that  she  could  look  into 
it,  tilted  her  nose  at  the  odor,  and  very,  very  gently 
put  it  back  where  she  had  found  it.  Then  she  stood 
and  looked  down  at  Ford  with  her  eyebrows  pinched 
together. 

She  did  not  move,  after  that,  and  she  certainly 
did  not  speak,  but  her  presence  for  all  that  became 
manifest  to  him.  He  lifted  his  head  and  stared  at 
her  over  an  elbow;  and  his  eyes  were  heavy  with 
trouble,  and  his  mouth  was  set  in  lines  of  bitterness. 

"Did  you  want  me  for  something?"  he  asked, 
when  he  saw  that  she  was  not  going  to  speak  first. 

She  shook  her  head.  "  Is  it  —  pretty  steep  ?  "  she 
ventured  after  a  moment,  and  glanced  down  at  the 

jug- 
He  looked  puzzled  at  first,  but  when  his  own  glance 

followed  hers,  he  understood.     lie  stared  up  at  her 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  197 

somberly  before  he  let  his  head  drop  back  upon  his 
arms,  so  that  his  face  was  once  more  hidden. 

"  You  've  never  been  in  hell,  I  suppose,"  he  told 
her,  and  his  voice  was  dull  and  tired.  After  a  minute 
he  looked  up  at  her  impatiently.  "  Is  it  fun  to  stand 
and  watch  a  man  —  What  do  you  want,  anyway  ? 
It  does n't  matter  —  to  you." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?  "  she  retorted  sharply.  "  And  — 
suppose  it  does  n't.  I  have  Kate  to  think  of,  at 
least." 

He  gave  a  little  laugh  that  came  nearer  being  a 
snort.  "  Oh,  if  that 's  all,  you  need  n't  worry.  I  'm 
not  quite  that  far  gone,  thank  you !  " 

"  I  was  thinking  of  the  ranch,  and  of  her  ideals, 
and  her  blind  trust  in  you,  and  of  the  effect  on  the 
men,"  she  explained  impatiently. 

He  was  silent  a  moment.  "  I  'm  thinking  of  my- 
self!  "  he  told  her  grimly  then. 

"  And  —  don't  you  ever  —  think  of  me  ?  "  She 
set  her  teeth  sharply  together  after  the  words  were 
out,  and  watched  him,  breathing  quickly. 

Ford  sprang  up  from  the  bunk  and  faced  her  with 


198      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

stern  questioning  in  his  eyes,  but  she  only  flushed 
a  little  under  his  scrutiny.  Her  eyes,  he  noticed, 
were  clear  and  steady,  and  they  had  in  them  some- 
thing of  that  courage  which  fears  but  will  not  flinch. 

"  I  don't  want  to  think  of  you !  "  he  said,  lower- 
ing  his  voice  unconsciously.  "  For  the  last  month 
I  've  tried  mighty  hard  not  to  think  of  you.  And  if 
you  want  to  know  why  —  I  'm  married  ! ': 

She  leaned  back  against  the  door  and  stared  up 
at  him  with  widening  pupils.  Ford  looked  down  and 
struck  the  jug  with  his  toe.  "  That  thing,"  he  said 
slowly,  "  I  've  got  to  fight  alone.  I  don't  know  which 
is  going  to  come  out  winner,  me  or  the  booze.  I  — 
don't  —  know."  He  lifted  his  head  and  looked  at 
her.  "  What  did  you  come  in  here  for  ?  "  he  asked 
bluntly. 

She  caught  her  breath,  but  she  would  not  dodge. 
Ford  loved  her  for  that.  "  Dick  told  me  —  and  I 
was  —  I  wanted  to  —  well,  help.  I  thought  I  might 
—  sometimes  when  the  climb  is  too  steep,  a  hand 
will  keep  one  from  —  slipping." 

"  What  made  you  want  to  help  ?    You  don't  even 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  199 

like  me."  His  tone  was  flat  and  unemotional,  but 
she  did  not  seem  able  to  meet  his  eyes.  So  she  looked 
down  at  the  jug. 

''Dick  said — but  the  jug  is  full  practically.  I 
don't  understand  how — " 

"  It  is  n't  as  full  as  it  ought  to  be ;  it  lacks  one 
swallow."  He  eyed  it  queerly.  "  I  wish  I  knew 
how  much  it  would  lack  by  dark,"  he  said. 

She  threw  out  an  impulsive  hand.  "  Oh,  but  you 
must  make  up  your  mind !  You  must  n't  temporize 
like  that,  or  wonder  —  or  —  " 

"  This,"  he  interrupted  rather  flippantly,  "  is 
something  little  girls  can't  understand.  They  'd 
better  not  try.  This  is  n't  a  woman's  problem,  to  be 
solved  by  argument.     It 's  a  man's  fight !  " 

"  But  if  you  would  just  make  up  your  mind,  you 
could  win." 

"  Could  I  ?  "  His  tone  was  amusedly  skeptical, 
but  his  eyes  were  still  somber. 

"  Even  a  woman,"  she  said  impatiently,  "  knows 
that  is  not  the  way  to  win  a  fight  —  to  send  for  the 
enemy  and  give  him  all  your  weapons,  and  a  plan 


200      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

of  the  fortifications,  and  the  password ;  when  you 
know  there 's  no  mercy  to  be  hoped  for !  " 

He  smiled  at  her  simile,  and  at  her  earnestness 
also,  perhaps;  but  that  black  gloom  remained,  look- 
ing out  of  his  eyes. 

"  What  made  you  send  for  it  %    A  whole  gallon !  ': 

"  I  did  n't  send  for  it.  That  jug  belongs  to  Mose," 
he  told  her  simply.  "  Dick  told  me  Mose  had  it ; 
rather,  Dick  went  into  the  kitchen  and  got  it,  and 
turned  it  over  to  me."  In  spite  of  the  words,  he 
did  not  give  one  the  impression  that  he  was  defend- 
ing himself;  he  was  merely  offering  an  explanation 
because  she  seemed  to  demand  one. 

"  Dick  got  it  and  turned  it  over  to  you !  ':  Her 
forehead  wrinkled  again  into  vertical  lines.  She 
studied  him  frowningly.  "  Will  you  give  it  to  me  ? ': 
she  asked  directly. 

Ford  folded  his  arms  and  scowled  down  at  the 
jug.  "  No,"  he  refused  at  last,  "  I  won't.  If  booze 
is  going  to  be  the  boss  of  me  I  want  to  know  it.  And 
I  can't  know  it  too  quick." 

"  But  —  you  're  only  human,  Ford  !  " 


AT   HAND-GRIPS  201 

"  Sure.  But  I  'm  kinda  hoping  I  'in  a  man,  too." 
His  eyes  lightened  a  little  while  they  rested  upon 
her. 

"  But  you  've  got  the  poison  of  it  —  it 's  like  a 
traitor  in  your  fort,  ready  to  open  the  door.  You 
can't  do  it !  I  —  oh,  you  '11  never  understand  why, 
but  I  can't  let  you  risk  it.  You  've  got  to  let  me 
help  ;  give  it  to  me,  Ford  !  " 

"  No.  You  go  on  to  the  house,  and  don't  bother 
about  me.  You  can't  help  —  nobody  can.  It 's  up 
to  me." . 

She  struck  her  hands  together  in  a  nervous  rage. 

You  want  to  keep  it  because  you  want  to  drink  it! 
If  you  did  n't  want  it,  you  'd  hate  to  be  near  it. 
You  'd  want  some  one  to  take  it  away.  You  just 
want  to  get  drunk,  and  be  a  beast.  You  —  you  — 
oh  —  you  don't  know  what  you  're  doing,  or  how 
much  it  means!  You  don't  know!"  Her  hands 
went  up  suddenly  and  covered  her  face. 

Ford  walked  the  length  of  the  room  away  from 
her,  turned  and  came  back  until  he  faced  her  where 
she  stood  leaning  against  the  door,  with  her  face 


202      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

still  hidden  behind  her  palms.     He  reached  out  his 
arms  to  her,  hesitated,  and  drew  them  hack. 

"  I  wish  you  'd  go/'  he  said.  "  There  are  some 
things  J  harder  to  fight  than  whisky.  You  only  make 
it  worse." 

"  I  '11  go  when  you  give  me  that."  She  flung  a 
hand  out  toward  the  jug. 

"  You  '11  go  anyway ! "  He  took  her  by  the  arm, 
quietly  pulled  her  away  from  the  door,  opened  it, 
and  then  closed  it  while,  for  just  a  breath  or  two, 
he  held  her  tightly  clasped  in  his  arms.  Very  gently, 
after  that,  he  pushed  her  out  upon  the  doorstep  and 
shut  the  door  behind  her.  The  lock  clicked  a  hint 
which  she  could  not  fail  to  hear  and  understand.  He 
waited  until  he  heard  her  walk  away,  sat  down  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  is  very,  very  weary,  rested 
his  elbows  upon  his  knees,  and  with  his  hands  clasped 
loosely  together,  he  glowered  at  the  jug  on  the  floor. » 
Tben  the  soul  of  Ford  Campbell  went  deep  down 
into  the  pit  where  all  the  devils  dwell. 


CIIAPTEK  XIII 


A   PLAN    GONE    WRONG 


TT  was  Mose  crashing  headlong  into  the  old  mess* 
A  box  where  he  kept  rattly  basins,  empty  lard 
pails,  and  such,  that  roused  Ford.  He  got  up  and 
went  into  the  kitchen,  and  when  he  saw  what  was 
the  matter,  extricated  Mose  by  the  simple  method 
of  grabbing  his  shoulders  and  pulling  hard ;  then  he 
set  the  cook  upon  his  feet,  and  got  full  in  his  face 
the  unmistakable  fumes  of  whisky. 

"  What  ?  You  got  another  jug  ? "  he  asked,  with 
some  disgust,  steadying  Mose  against  the  wall. 

"Ah  —  I  ain't  got  any  jug  uh  nothin',"  Mose 
protested,  rather  thickly.  "  And  I  never  took  them 
bottles  outa  the  stack;  that  musta  been  Dick  done 
that.  Get  after  him  about  it ;  he 's  the  one  told 
me  where  yuh  hid  'em  —  but  I  never  touched  'em, 
honest  I  never.    If  they  're  gone,  you  get  after  Dick. 


204      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Don't  yuh  go  'n'  lay  it  on  me,  now !  '  He  was 
whimpering  with  maudlin  pathos  before  he  finished. 
Ford  scowled  at  him  thoughtfully. 

"  Dick  told  you  about  the  bottles  in  the  haystack, 
did  he?'1  he  asked.  "Which  stack  was  it?  And 
how  many  bottles  ?  " 

Mose  gave  him  a  bleary  stare.  "  Aw,  you  know. 
You  hid  'em  there  yourself!  Dick  said  so.  I  ain't 
goiu  to  say  which  stack,  or  how  many  bottles  —  or 
—  any  other  — darn  thing  about  it."  He  punctuated 
his  phrases  by  prodding  a  finger  against  Ford's  chest, 
and  he  wagged  his  head  with  all  the  self-conscious- 
ness of  spurious  virtue.  "  Promised  Dick  I 
would  n't,  and  I  won't.  Not  a  —  darn  —  word  about 
it.  Wanted  some  —  for  m'  mince-meat,  but  I  never 
took  any  outa  the  haystack."  Whereupon  he  began 
to  show  a  pronounced  limpness  in  his  good  leg,  and 
a  tendency  to  slide  down  upon  the  floor. 

Ford  piloted  him  to  a  chair,  eased  him  into  it, 
and  stood  over  him  in  frowning  meditation.  Mose 
was  drunk;  absolutely,  undeniably  drunk.  It  could 
not  have  been  the  jug,  for  the  jug  was  full.     Till 


A  PLAN   GONE  WRONG     205 

then  the  oddity  of  a  full  jug  of  whisky  in  Mose's 
kitchen  after  at  least  twenty-four  hours  must  have 
elapsed  since  its  arrival,  had  not  occurred  to  him. 
He  had  been  too  preoccupied  with  his  own  fight  to 
think  much  about  Mose. 

"  Shay,  I  never  took  them  bottles  outa  the  stack," 
Mose  looked  up  to  protest  solemnly.  "  Dick  never 
told  me  about  'em,  neither.  Dick  t&V  me  —  "  tap- 
ping Ford's  arm  with  his  finger  for  every  word, 
"  —  'at  there  was  aigs  down  there,  for  m'  mince- 
meat." He  stopped  suddenly  and  goggled  up  at 
Ford.  "  Shay,  yuh  don't  put  aigs  in — mince-meat," 
he  informed  him  earnestly.  "  Not  a  darn  aig ! 
That 's  what  Dick  tol'  me  —  aigs  for  m'  mince-meat. 
Oh,  I  knowed  right  off  what  he  meant,  all  right," 
he  explained  proudly.  "  He  did  n't  wanta  come  right 
out  'n'  shay  what  it  was  —  an'  I  —  got  —  the  — 
aigs !  " 

"  Yes  —  how  many  —  eggs  ?  "  Ford  held  himself 
rigidly  quiet. 

"  Two  quart  —  aigs  !  "  Mose  laughed  at  the  joke. 
"  I  wisht,"  he  added  pensively,  "  the  hens  'd  all  lay 


206      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

them  kinda  aigs.  I  'd  buy  up  all  the  shickens  in  — 
the  whole  worl'."  He  gazed  raptly  upon  the  vision 
the  words  conjured.  "  Gee !  Quart  aigs  —  V  all 
the  shickens  in  the  worl'  layin'  reg'lar !  " 

"  Have  you  got  any  left  ?  " 

"  iSTo  —  honest.  Used  'em  all  up  —  for  m'  mince- 
meat ! " 

Ford  knew  he  was  lying.  His  eyes  searched  the 
untidy  tables  and  the  corners  filled  with  bags  and 
boxes.  Mose  was  a  good  cook,  but  his  ideas  of 
order  were  vague,  and  his  system  of  housekeeping 
was  the  simple  one  of  leaving  everything  where  he 
had  last  been  using  it,  so  that  it  might  be  handy 
when  he  wanted  it  again.  A  dozen  bottles  might 
be  concealed  there,  like  the  faces  in  a  picture-puzzle, 
and  it  would  take  a  housecleaniug  to  disclose  them 
all.  But  Ford,  when  he  knew  that  no  bottle  had 
been  left  in  sight,  began  turning  over  the  bags  and 
looking  behind  the  boxes. 

He  must  have  been  "  growing  warm  "  when  he 
stood  wondering  whether  it  was  worth  while  to  look 
into  the  flour-bin,  for  Mose  gave  an  inarticulate  snarl 


A  PLAN   GONE   WRONG     207 

and  pounced  on  him  from  behind.  The  weight  of  him 
sent  Ford  down  on  all  fours  and  kept  him  there  for 
a  space,  and  even  after  he  was  up  he  found  himself 
quite  busy.  Mose  was  a  husky  individual,  with  no 
infirmity  of  the  arms  and  fists,  even  if  he  did  have 
a  stiff  leg,  and  drunkenness  frequently  flares  and 
fades  in  a  man  like  a  candle  guttering  in  the  wind. 
Besides,  Mose  was  fighting  to  save  his  whisky. 

Still,  Ford  had  not  sent  all  of  Sunset  into  its 
cellars,  figuratively  speaking,  for  nothing;  and  while 
a  man  may  feel  more  enthusiasm  for  fighting  when 
under  the  influence  of  the  stuff  that  cheers  sometimes 
and  never  fails  to  inebriate,  the  added  incentive 
does  not  necessarily  mean  also  added  muscular  de- 
velopment or  more  weight  behind  the  punch.  Ford, 
fighting  as  he  had  always  fought,  be  he  drunk  or 
sober,  came  speedily  to  the  point  where  he  could 
inspect  a  skinned  knuckle  and  afterwards  gaze  in 
peace  upon  his  antagonist. 

lie  was  occupied  with  both  diversions  when  the 
door  was  pushed  open  as  by  a  man  in  great  haste. 
He  looked  up  from  the  knuckle  into  the  expectant 


208      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

eyes  of  Jim  Felton,  and  over  the  shoulder  of  Jim  he 
saw  a  gloating  certainty  writ  large  upon  the  face  of 
Dick  Thomas.  They  had  been  running;  he  could 
tell  that  by  their  uneven  breathing,  and  it  occurred 
to  him  that  they  must  have  heard  the  clamor  when 
he  pitched  Mose  head  first  into  the  dish  cupboard. 
There  had  been  considerable  noise  about  that  time, 
he  remembered ;  they  must  also  have  heard  the  howl 
Mose  gave  at  the  instant  of  contact.  Ford  glanced 
involuntarily  at  that  side  of  the  room  where  stood 
the  cupboard,  and  mentally  admitted  that  it  looked 
like  there  had  been  a  slight  disagreement,  or  else  a 
severe  seismic  disturbance ;  and  Montana  is  not  what 
one  calls  an  earthquake  country.  His  eyes  left  the 
generous  sprinkle  of  broken  dishes  on  the  floor,  with 
Mose  sprawled  inertly  in  their  midst,  looking  not 
unlike  a  broken  platter  himself —  or  one  badly  nicked 
—  and  rested  again  upon  the  grinning  face  behind 
the  shoulder  of  Jim  Felton. 

Ford  was  ever  a  man  of  not  many  words,  even 
when  he  had  a  grievance.  He  made  straight  for 
Dick,  and  when  he  had  pushed  Jim  out  of  the  way, 


A  PLAN   GONE   WRONG     209 

he  reached  him  violently.  Dick  tottered  upon  the 
step  and  went  off  backward,  and  Ford  landed  upon 
him  fairly  and  with  full  knowledge  and  intent. 

Jim  Felton  was  a  wise  young  man.  He  stood 
back  and  let  them  fight  it  out,  and  when  it  was  over 
he  said  never  a  word  until  Dick  had  picked  himself 
up  and  walked  off,  holding  to  his  nose  a  handker- 
chief that  reddened  rapidly. 

"  Say,  you  are  a  son-of-a-gun  to  fight,"  lie  ob- 
served admiringly  then  to  Ford.  "  Don't  you  know 
Dick  's  supposed  to  be  abso-lute-ly  unlickable  ?  " 

"  May  be  so  —  but  he  sure  shows  all  the  symptoms 
of  being  licked  right  at  present."  Ford  moved  a 
thumb  joint  gently  to  see  whether  it  was  really  dis- 
located or  merely  felt  that  way. 

"  He 's  going  up  to  the  house  now,  to  tell  the 
missus,"  remarked  Jim,  craning  his  neck  from  the 
doorway. 

"If  he  does  that,"  Ford  replied  calmly,  "I'll 
half  kill  him  next  time.  What  I  gave  him  just  now 
is  only  a  sample  package  left  on  the  doorstep  to 
try."    He  sat  down  upon  a  corner  of  the  table  and 


210      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

began  to  make  himself  a  smoke.  "  Is  he  going  lip 
to  the  house  —  honest  ?  "  He  would  not  yield  to 
the  impulse  to  look  and  see  for  himself. 

"  We-el,  the  trail  he 's  taking  has  no  other  logical 
destination/'  drawled  Jim.  "  He 's  across  the 
bridge."  When  Ford  showed  no  disposition  to  say 
anything  to  that,  Jim  came  in  and  closed  the  door. 
"  Say,  what  laid  old  Mose  out  so  nice  ?  "  he  asked, 
with  an  indolent  sort  of  curiosity.  "  Booze  ?  Or  just 
bumps  ? " 

"  A  little  of  both,"  said  Ford  indifferently,  be- 
tween puffs.  He  was  thinking  of  the  tale  Dick 
would  tell  at  the  house,  and  he  was  thinking  of  the 
probable  effect  upon  one  listener ;  the  other  did  n't 
worry  him,  though  he  liked  Mrs.  Kate  very  much. 

Jim  went  over  and  investigated;  discovering  that 
Mose  was  close  to  snoring,  he  sat  upon  a  corner  of 
the  other  table,  swung  a  spurred  boot,  and  regarded 
Ford  interestedly  over  his  own  cigarette  building. 
"  Say,  for  a  man  that 's  supposed  to  be  soused,"  he 
began,  after  a  silence,  "  you  act  and  talk  remarkably 
lucid.     I  wish  I  could  carry  booze  like  that,"  he 


A  PLAN   GONE   WRONG     211 

added  regretf ully.  "  But  I  can't ;  my  tongue  and 
my  legs  always  betray  the  guilty  secret.  Have  you 
got  any  particular  system,  or  is  it  just  a  gift  ? ' 

"  !No  "  —  Ford  shook  bis  bead  —  "  nothing  like 
that.  I  just  don't  happen  to  be  drunk."  He  eyed 
Jim  sharply  while  he  considered  within  himself. 
"  It  looks  to  me,"  he  began,  after  a  moment,  "  as  if 
our  friend  Dick  had  framed  up  a  nice  little  plant. 
One  way  and  another  I  got  wise  to  the  whole  thing; 
but  for  the  life  of  me,  I  can't  see  what  made  him 
do  it.  Lordy  me !  I  never  kicked  him  on  any 
bunion !  "  He  grinned,  as  memory  flashed  a  brief, 
mental  picture  of  Sunset  and  certain  incidents  which 
occurred  there.  But  memory  never  lets  well  enough 
alone,  and  one  is  lucky  to  escape  without  seeing  a 
picture  that  leaves  a  sting;  Ford's  smile  ended  in 
a  scowl. 

"  Jealousy,  old  man,"  Jim  pronounced  without 
hesitation.  "  Of  course,  I  don't  know  the  details, 
but  —  details  be  darned.  If  he  has  tried  to  hand 
you  a  package,  take  it  from  me,  jealousy 's  the 
string  he  tied  it  with.     I  don't  mind  saying  that 


212      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Dick  told  me  when  I  first  rode  up  to  the  corral 
that  you  and  Mose  were  both  boozing  up  to  beat  the 
band;  and  right  after  that  we  heard  a  deuce  of  a 
racket  up  here,  and  it  did  look  — ';  He  waved 
an  apologetic  hand  at  Mose  and  the  fragments  of 
pottery  which  framed  like  a  ''still  life"  picture  on 
the  floor,  and  let  it  go  at  that.  "  I  'm  strong  for 
you,  Ford,"  he  added,  and  his  smile  was  frank  and 
friendly.  "  Double  Cross  is  the  name  of  this  outfit, 
but  I  'm  all  in  favor  of  running  that  brand  on  the 
cow-critters  and  keeping  it  out  of  the  bunk-house. 
If  you  should  happen  to  feel  like  elucidating  — " 
he  hinted  delicately. 

Ford  had  always  liked  Jim  Felton;  now  he 
warmed  to  him  as  a  real  friend,  and  certain  things 
he  told  him.  As  much  about  the  jug  with  the  brown 
neck  and  handle  as  concerned  Dick,  and  all  he  knew 
of  the  bottles  in  the  haystack,  while  Jim  smoked, 
and  swung  the  foot  which  did  not  rest  upon  the 
floor,  and  listened. 

"  Sounds  like  Dick,  all  right,"  he  passed  judg- 
ment, when  Ford  had  finished.      "  He  counted  on 


A  PLAN   GONE   WRONG     213 

your  falling  for  the  jug  —  and  oh,  my !  It  was  a 
beautiful  plant.  I  'd  sure  hate  to  have  anybody  sing 
'  Yield  not  to  temptation '  at  me,  if  a  gallon  jug  of 
I  the  real  stuff  fell  into  my  arms  and  nobody  was 
looking."  He  eyed  Ford  queerly.  "  You  Ve  got 
quite  a  reputation  —  "  he  ventured. 

"  Well,  I  earned  it,"  Ford  observed  laconically. 

"  Dick  banked  on  it  —  I  'd  stake  my  whole  stack 
of  blues  on  that.  And  after  you  'd  torn  up  the  ranch, 
and  pitched  the  fragments  into  the  gulch,  he  'd  hold 
the  last  trump,  with  all  high  cards  to  keep  the  lead. 
Whee !  "  He  meditated  admiringly  upon  the  strat- 
egy. "  But  what  I  can't  seem  to  understand,"  he 
said  frankly,  "  is  why  the  deuce  it  did  n't  work ! 
Is  your  swallower  out  of  kilter  ?  If  you  don't  mind 
my  asking !  " 

"  I  never  noticed  that  it  was  paralyzed,"  Ford 
answered  grimly.  He  got  up,  lifted  a  lid  of  the 
stove,  and  threw  in  the  cigarette  stub  mechanically. 
Then  he  bethought  him  of  his  interrupted  search, 
and  prodded  a  long-handled  spoon  into  the  flour  bin, 
struck  something  smooth  and  hard,  and  drew  out  a 


214      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

bc-floured,  quart  bottle  half  full  of  whisky.  He  wiped 
the  bottle  carefully,  inspected  it  briefly,  and  pitched 
it  into  the  gully,  where  it  smashed  odorously  upon 
a  rock.  Jim,  watching  him,  knew  that  he  was  think- 
ing all  the  while  of  something  else.  When  Ford 
spoke,  he  proved  it. 

"  Are  you  any  good  at  all  in  the  kitchen,  Jim  ?  " 
he  asked,  turning  to  him  as  if  he  had  decided  just 
how  he  would  meet  the  situation. 

"  Well,  I  hate  to  brag,  but  I  've  known  of  men 
eating  my  grub  and  going  right  on  living  as  if 
nothing  had  happened,"  Jim  admitted  modestly. 

"  Well,  you  turn  yourself  loose  in  here,  will  you  ? 
The  boys  will  be  good  and  empty  when  they  come  — 
it 's  dinner  time  right  now.  I  '11  help  you  carry 
Mose  out  of  the  way  before  I  go." 

Jim  looked  as  if  he  would  like  to  ask  what  Ford 
meant  to  do,  but  he  refrained.  There  was  some- 
thing besides  preoccupation  in  Ford's  face,  and  it 
did  not  make  for  easy  questioning.  Jim  did  yield  to 
his  curiosity  to  the  extent  of  watching  through  a 
window,  when  Ford  went  out,  to  see  where  he  was 


A  PLAN   GONE   WRONG     215 

going;  and  when  be  saw  Ford  liad  the  jug,  and  that 
he  took  the  path  which  led  across  the  little  bridge 
and  so  to  the  house,  he  drew  back  and  said 
"  Whee-e-e!  "  under  his  breath.  Then  he  remarked 
to  the  recumbent  Mose,  who  was  not  in  a  condition 
either  to  hear  or  understand :  "  I  '11  bet  you  Dick  'a 
got  all  he  wants,  right  now,  without  any  postscript." 
After  which  Jim  hunted  up  a  clean  apron  and  pro- 
ceeded, with  his  spurs  on  his  heels,  his  hat  on  the 
back  of  his  head,  and  a  smile  upon  his  lips,  to  sweep 
out  the  broken  dishes  so  that  he  might  walk  without 
hearing  them  crunch  unpleasantly  under  his  boots. 
"  I  '11  take  wildcats  in  mine,  please,"  he  remarked 
once  irrelevantly  aloud,  and  smiled  again. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    FEMININE    POINT    OF    VIEW 

WHEN  Ford  stepped  upon  the  porch  with  the 
jug  in  his  hand,  he  gave  every  indication 
of  having  definitely  made  up  his  mind.  When  he 
glimpsed  Josephine's  worried  face  behind  the  lace 
curtain  in  the  window,  he  dropped  the  jug  lower 
and  held  it  against  his  leg  in  such  a  way  as  to  indi- 
cate that  he  hoped  she  could  not  see  it,  but  otherwise 
he  gave  no  sign  of  perturbation.  He  walked  along 
the  porch  to  the  door  of  his  own  room,  went  in,  locked 
the  door  after  him,  and  put  the  jug  down  on  a  chair. 
He  could  hear  faint  sounds  of  dishes  being  placed 
upon  the  table  in  the  dining-room,  which  was  next 
to  his  own,  and  he  knew  that  dinner  was  half  an 
hour  late ;  which  was  unusual  in  Mrs.  Kate's  orderly 
domain.  Mrs.  Kate  was  one  of  those  excellent  women 
whose  house  is  always  immaculate,  whose  meals  are 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     217 

ever  placed  before  one  when  the  clock  points  to  a 
certain  hour,  and  whose  table  never  lacks  a  salad 
and  a  dessert  —  though  how  those  feats  are  accom- 
plished upon  a  cattle  ranch  must  ever  remain  a 
mystery.  Ford  was  therefore  justified  in  taking  the 
second  look  at  his  watch  and  in  holding  it  up  to  his 
ear,  and  also  in  lifting  his  eyebrows  when  all  was 
done.  Fifteen  minutes  by  the  watch  it  was  before 
he  heard  the  silvery  tinkle  of  the  tea  bell,  which  was 
one  of  the  ties  which  bound  Mrs.  Kate  to  civilization, 
and  which  announced  that  he  might  enter  the  dining- 
room. 

lie  went  in  as  clean  and  fresh  and  straight-backed 
and  quiet  as  ever  he  had  done,  and  when  he  saw  that 
the  room  was  empty  save  for  Buddy,  perched  upon 
his  long-legged  chair  with  his  heels  hooked vover  the 

p  round  and  a  napkin  tucked  expectantly  inside  the 
collar  of  his  blue  blouse,  he  took  in  the  situation 
and  sat  down  without  waiting  for  the  women.  The 
very  first  glance  told  him  that  Mrs.  Kate  had  never 
prepared  that  meal.  It  was,  putting  it  bluntly,  a 
scrappy  affair  hastily  gathered  from  various  shelves 


218      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

in  the  pantry  and  hurriedly  arranged  haphazard  upon 
the  table. 

Buddy  gazed  upon  the  sprinkle  of  dishes  with  un- 
disguised dissatisfaction.  "  There  ain't  any  pota- 
toes," he  announced  gloomily.  "  My  own  mamma  al- 
ways cooks  potatoes.  Josephine  's  the  limit !  I  been 
working  to-day.  I  almost  dug  out  a  badger,  over  by 
the  bluff.  I  got  where  I  could  hear  him  scratching  to 
get  away,  and  then  it  was  all  rocks,  so  I  could  n't 
dig  any  more.  Gee,  it  was  hard  digging!  And  I  'm 
just  about  starved,  if  you  want  to  know.  And  there 
ain't  any  potatoes." 

"  Bread  and  butter  is  fine  when  you  're  hungry," 
Ford  suggested,  and  spread  a  slice  for  Buddy,  some- 
what inattentively,  because  he  was  also  keeping  an 
eye  upon  the  kitchen  door,  where  he  had  caught  a 
fleeting  glimpse  of  Josephine  looking  in  at  him. 

"  You  're  putting  the  butter  all  in  one  place," 
Buddy  criticised,  with  his  usual  frankness.  "  I  guess 
you  're  drunk,  all  right.  If  you  're  too  drunk  to 
spread  butter,  let  me  do  it." 

"  What  makes  you  think  I  'm  drunk  ?  "  Ford  ques- 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     219 

tioned,  lowering  his  voice  because  of  the  person  he 
suspected  was  in  the  kitchen. 

"  Mamma  and  Jo  was  quarreling  about  it ;  that 's 
why.  And  mj  own  mamma  cried,  and  shut  the  door, 
and  would  n't  let  me  go  in.  And  Jo  pretty  near  cried 
too,  all  right.  I  guess  she  did,  only  not  when  any 
one  was  looking.  Her  eyes  are  awful  red,  anyway." 
Buddy  took  great,  ravenous  bites  of  the  bread  and 
butter  and  eyed  Ford  unwinkingly. 

"  What 's  disslepointed  ?  "  he  demanded  abruptly, 
after  he  had  given  himself  a  white  mustache  with 
his  glass  of  milk. 

"  Why  do  you  want  to  know  ?  " 

"  That 's  what  my  own  mamma  is,  and  that 's 
what  Jo  is.  Only  my  own  mamma  is  it  about  you, 
and  Jo  's  it  about  mamma.  Say,  did  you  lick  Dick  ? 
Jo  told  my  own  mamma  she  wisht  you  'd  killed  him. 
Jo 's  awful  mad  to-day.  I  guess  she 's  mad  at 
Dick,  because  he  ain't  very  much  of  a  fighter.  Did 
you  lick  him  easy?  Did  you  paste  him  one  in  the 
jaw?" 

Josephine  entered  then  with  Ford's  belated  tea. 


220      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

Her  eyelids  were  pink,  as  Buddy  had  told  him,  and 
she  did  not  look  at  him  while  she  filled  his  cup. 

"  Kate  has  a  sick  headache,"  she  explained  primly, 
"  and  I  did  the  best  I  could  with  lunch.  I  hope 
it's  —  " 

"  It  is,"  Ford  interrupted  reassuringly.  "  Every- 
thing is  fine  and  dandy." 

"  You  did  n't  cook  any  potatoes !  "  Buddy  charged 
mercilessly.  "  And  Ford  's  too  drunk  to  put  the 
butter  on  right.  I  'm  going  to  tell  my  dad  that 
next  time  he  goes  to  Oregon  I  'm  going  along.  This 
outfit  will  sure  go  to  the  devil  if  he  stays  much 
longer !  " 

"Where  did  you  hear  that,  Bud?"  Josephine 
asked,  still  carefully  avoiding  a  glance  at  Ford. 

"  Well,  Dick  said  it  would  go  to  the  devil.  I 
guess,"  he  added  on  his  own  account,  with  an  elo- 
quent look  at  the  table,  "  it 's  on  the  trail  right  now." 

Ford  looked  at  Josephine,  opened  his  lips  to  say 
that  it  might  still  be  headed  off,  and  decided  not  to 
speak.  There  was  a  stubborn  streak  in  Ford  Camp- 
bell.    She  had  said  some  bitter  things,  in  her  anger. 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     221 

Perhaps  she  had  not  entirely  believed  them  herself, 
and  perhaps  Mrs.  Kate  had  not  been  accurately 
quoted  by  her  precocious  young  son;  she  may  not 
have  said  that  she  was  disappointed  in  Ford.  They 
might  not  have  believed  whatever  it  was  Dick  told 
them,  and  they  might  still  have  full  confidence  in 
him,  Ford  Campbell.  Still,  there  was  the  stubborn 
streak  which  would  not  explain  or  defend.  So  he  left 
the  table,  and  went  into  his  own  room  without  any 
word  save  a  muttered  excuse;  and  that  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  Josephine  looked  full  at  him,  at  last,, 
and  with  a  wistfulness  that  moved  him  almost  to 
the  point  of  taking  her  in  his  arms  and  kissing  away 
the  worry  —  if  he  could. 

He  went  up  to  the  table  where  stood  the  jug, 
looked  at  it,  lifted  it,  and  set  it  down  again.  Then 
he  lifted  it  again  and  pulled  the  cork  out  with  a 
jerk,  wondering  if  the  sound  of  it  had  reached 
through  the  thin  partition  to  the  ears  of  Josephine; 
he  was  guilty  of  hoping  so.  He  put  back  the  cork  — 
this  time  carefully  —  walked  to  the  outer  door,  turned 
the  key,  opened  the  door,  and  closed  it  again  with  a 


222      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

slam.  Then,  with  a  grim  set  of  the  lips,  he  walked 
softly  into  the  closet  and  pulled  the  door  nearly  shut. 

He  knew  there  was  a  chance  that  Josephine,  if 
she  were  interested  in  his  movements,  would  go  im- 
mediately into  the  sitting-room,  where  she  could  see 
the  path,  and  would  know  that  he  had  not  really  left 
the  house.  But  she  did  not,  evidently.  She  sat 
long  enough  in  the  dining-room  for  Ford  to  call 
himself  a  name  or  two  and  to  feel  exceedingly  fool- 
ish over  the  trick,  and  to  decide  that  it  was  a  very 
childish  one  for  a  grown  man  to  play  upon  a  woman. 
Then  she  pushed  back  her  chair,  came  straight  to- 
ward his  room,  opened  the  door,  and  looked  in; 
Ford  knew,  for  he  saw  her  through  the  crack  he  had 
left  in  the  closet  doorway.  She  stood  there  looking 
at  the  jug  on  the  table,  then  went  up  and  lifted  it, 
much  as  Ford  had  done,  and  pulled  the  cork  with  a 
certain  angry  defiance.  Perhaps,  he  guessed 
shrewdly,  Josephine  also  felt  rather  foolish  at  what 
she  was  doing  —  and  he  smiled  over  the  thought. 

Josephine  turned  the  jug  to  the  light,  shut  one 
eye  into  an  adorable  squint,  and  peered  in.     Then 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     223 

she  set  the  jug  down  and  pushed  the  cork  slowly  into 
place;  and  her  face  was  puzzled.  Ford  could  have 
laughed  aloud  when  he  saw  it,  hut  instead  he  held 
his  breath  for  fear  she  should  discover  him.  She 
stood  very  still  for  a  minute  or  two,  staring  at  notLing 
at  all;  moved  the  jug  into  the  exact  place  where  it 
had  stood  before,  and  went  out  of  the  room  on  her 
toes. 

So  did  Ford,  for  that  matter,  and  he  was  in  a 
cold  terror  lest  she  should  look  out  and  see  him 
walking  down  the  path  where  he  should  logically 
have  walked  more  than  five  minutes  before.  He  did 
not  dare  to  turn  and  look  —  until  he  was  outside 
the  gate;  then  inspiration  came  to  aid  him  and  he 
went  back  boldly,  stepped  upon  the  porch  with  no 
effort  at  silence,  opened  his  door,  and  went  in  as 
one  who  has  a  right  there. 

lie  heard  the  click  of  dishes  which  told  that  she 
was  clearing  the  table,  and  he  breathed  freer.  He 
walked  across  the  room,  waited  a  space,  and  walked 
back  again,  and  then  went  out  with  his  heart  in  its 
proper  position  in  his  chest;  Ford  was  unused  to 


224      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

feeling  his  heart  rise  to  his  palate,  and  the  sensation 
was  more  novel  than  agreeable.  When  he  went 
again  clown  the  path,  there  was  a  certain  exhilara- 
tion in  his  step.  His  thoughts  arranged  themselves 
in  clear-cut  sentences,  as  if  he  were  speaking,  instead 
of  those  vague,  almost  wordless  impressions  which 
fill  the  brain  ordinarily. 

"  She  's  keeping  cases  on  that  jug.  She  must  care, 
or  she  would  n't  do  that.  She 's  worried  a  whole 
lot;  I  could  see  that,  all  along.  Down  at  the  bunk- 
house  she  called  me  Ford  twice  —  and  she  said  it 
meant  a  lot  to  her,  whether  I  make  good  or  not.  I 
wonder  —  Lordy  me !  A  man  could  make  good,  all 
right,  and  do  it  easy,  if  she  cared !  She  does  n't 
know  what  to  think  —  that  jug  staying  right  up  to 
high-water  mark,  like  that !  "  He  laughed  then,  si- 
lently, and  dwelt  upon  the  picture  she  had  made 
while  she  had  stood  there  before  the  table. 

"  Lord !  she  'd  want  to  kill  me  if  she  knew  I  hid 
in  that  closet,  but  I  just  had  a  hunch  —  that  is,  if 
she  cared  anything  about  it.  I  wonder  if  she  did 
really  say  she  wished  I  'd  killed  Dick  ? 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     225 

"  Anyway,  I  can  fight  it  now,  with  her  keeping 
cases  on  the  quiet.  I  know  I  can  fight  it.  Lordy 
me,  I  've  got  to  fight  it !  I  've  got  to  make  good ; 
that 's  all  there  is  about  it.  Wonder  what  she  '11 
think  when  she  sees  that  jug  don't  go  down  any? 
Wonder  —  oh,  hell  !  She  'd  never  care  anything 
about  me.  If  she  did  —  "  His  thoughts  went  hazy 
with  vague  speculation,  then  clarified  suddenly  into 
one  hard  fact,  like  a  rock  thrusting  up  through  the 
lazy  sweep  of  a  windless  tide.  "  If  she  did  care,  I 
could  n't  do  anything.    I  'm  married  !  " 

His  step  lost  a  little  of  its  spring,  then,  and  he 
went  into  the  bunk-house  with  much  the  same  ex- 
pression on  his  face  as  when  he  had  left  it  an  hour  or 
so  before. 

He  did  not  see  Dick  that  day.  The  other  boys 
watched  him  covertly,  it  seemed  to  him,  and  showed 
a  disposition  to  talk  among  themselves.  Jim  was 
whistling  cheerfully  in  the  kitchen.  He  turned  his 
head  and  laughed  when  Ford  went  in. 

"  I  found  a  dead  soldier  behind  the  sack  of  spuds," 
Jim  announced,  and  produced  an  empty  bottle,  mate 


226      THE   UPHILL   CLIMB 

to  the  one  Ford  had  thrown  into  the  gully.  "  And 
Dick  did  n't  seem  to  have  any  appetite  at  all,  and 
Mose  is  still  in  Sleepytown.  I  guess  that 's  all  the 
news  at  this  end  of  the  line.  Er  —  hope  everything 
is  all  right  at  the  house  ?  " 

"  Far  as  I  could  see,  it  was,"  Ford  replied,  with 
an  inner  sense  of  evasion.  "  I  guess  we  '11  just  let 
her  go  as  she  looks,  Jim.  Did  you  say  anything  to 
the  boys  ?  " 

Jim  reddened  under  his  tan,  but  he  laughed  dis- 
armingly.  "  I  cannot  tell  a  lie,"  he  confessed  hon- 
estly, "  and  it  was  too  good  to  keep  to  myself.  I  'm 
the  most  generous  fellow  you  ever  saw,  when  it  comes 
to  passing  along  a  good  story  that  won't  hurt  any- 
body's digestion.  You  don't  care,  do  you  ?  The  joke 
ain't  on  you." 

"  If  you  'd  asked  me  about  it,  I  'd  have  said  keep 
it  under  your  hat.     But  —  " 

"  And  that  would  have  been  a  sin  and  a  shame," 
argued  Jim,  licking  a  finger  he  had  just  scorched 
on  n  hot  kettle-handle.  "  The  fellows  all  like  a  rood 
story  —  and  it  don't  sound  any  worse  because  it 's 


FEMININE   VIEWPOINT     227 

on  Dick.  And  say!  I  kinda  got  a  clue  to  where  he 
connected  with  that  whisky.  Walt  says  he  come 
back  from  the  line-camp  with  his  overcoat  rolled  up 
and  tied  behind  the  saddle  —  and  it  was  n't  what 
you  could  call  a  hot  night,  either.  He  musta  had 
that  jug  wrapped  up  in  it.  I  '11  bet  he  sent  in  by 
Peterson,  the  other  day,  for  it.  He  was  over  there, 
I  know.  He  's  sure  a  deliberate  kind  of  a  cuss,  is  n't 
he  ?  Must  have  had  this  thing  all  figured  out  a 
week  ago.  The  boys  are  all  tickled  to  death  at  the 
way  he  got  it  in  the  neck;  they  know  Dick  pretty 
well.  But  if  you  'd  told  me  not  to  say  anything, 
I  'd  have  said  he  stubbed  his  toe  on  his  shadow  and 
fell  all  over  himself,  and  let  it  go  at  that." 

"  Lordy  me !  Jim,  you  need  n't  worry  about  it ; 
you  ought  to  know  you  can't  keep  a  thing  like  this 
quiet,  on  a  ranch.  It  doesn't  matter  much  how  he 
got  that  whisky  here,  either;  I  know  well  enough 
von  did  n't  haul  it  out.  I  'd  figured  it  out  about  as 
Walt  says. 

"Say,  it  looks  as  if  you'll  have  to  wr:istlc  with 
the  pots  and  pans  till  to-morrow.     The  lower  fence 


228     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

I  '11  ride,  this  afternoon ;  did  you  get  clear  around 
the  Pinnacle  field  ?  " 

"  I  sure  did  —  and  she  's  tight  as  a  drum.  Say, 
Mose  is  a  good  cook,  but  he 's  a  mighty  punk  house- 
keeper, if  you  ask  me.  I  'm  thinking  of  getting  to 
work  here  -with  a  hoe !  " 

So  life,  which  had  of  late  loomed  big  and  bitter 
before  the  soul  of  Ford,  slipped  back  into  the  groove 
of  daily  routine. 


CHAPTEK  XV 


THE    CLIMB 


XTO  its  groove  of  routine  slipped  life  at  the 
Double  Cross,  but  it  did  not  move  quite  as 
smoothly  as  before.  It  was  as  if  the  "  hill  "  which 
Ford  was  climbing  suffered  small  landslides  here  and 
there,  which  threatened  to  block  the  trail  below. 
Sometimes  —  still  keeping  to  the  simile  —  it  was  but 
a  pebble  or  two  kicked  loose  by  Ford's  heel ;  some- 
times a  bowlder  which  one  must  dodge. 

Dick,  for  instance,  must  have  likened  Mose  to  a 
real  landslide  when  he  came  at  him  the  next  day, 
with  a  roar  of  rage  and  the  rolling-pin.  Mose  had 
sobered  to  the  point  where  he  wondered  how  it  had 
all  happened,  and  wanted  to  get  his  hands  in  the 
wool  of  the  "nigger"  said  to  lurk  in  woodpih is. 
He  asked  Jim,  with  various  embellishments  of 
speech,  what  it  was  all  about,  and  Jim  told  him  and 
told  him  truly. 


230     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

"  He  "was  trying  to  queer  you  -with  the  outfit, 
Mose,  and  that 's  a  fact,"  he  finished ;  which  was 
the  only  exaggeration  Jim  was  guilty  of,  for  Dick 
had  probably  thought  very  little  of  Mose  and  his 
ultimate  standing  with  the  Double  Cross.  "  And  he 
was  trying  to  queer  Ford  —  but  you  can  search  me 
for  the  reason  why  he  did  n't  make  good,  there." 

Mose,  like  many  of  us,  was  a  self-centered  indi- 
vidual. He  wasted  a  minute,  perhaps,  thinking  of 
the  trick  upon  Ford;  but  he  spent  all  of  that  fore- 
noon and  well  into  the  afternoon  in  deep  meditation 
upon  the  affair  as  it  concerned  himself.  And  the 
first  time  Dick  entered  the  presence  of  the  cook,  he 
got  the  result  of  Mose's  reasoning. 

"  Tried  to  git  me  in  bad,  did  yuh  ?  Thought  you  'd 
git  me  fired,  hey  ? "  he  shouted,  as  a  sort  of  punctua- 
tion to  the  belaboring. 

A  rolling  pin  is  considered  a  more  or  less  fear- 
some weapon  in  the  hands  of  a  woman,  I  believe; 
when  wielded  by  an  incensed  man  who  stands  close 
to  six  feet  and  weighs  a  solid  two  hundred  pounds, 
and  who  has  the  headache  which  follows  inevitably 


THE   CLIMB  231 

in  the  wake  of  three  pints  of  whisky  administered 
internally  in  the  short  space  of  three  hours  or  so, 
a  rolling-pin  should  justly  be  classed  with  deadly 
weapons. 

Jim  said  afterward  that  he  never  had  believed  it 
possible  to  act  out  the  rough  stuff  of  the  silly  sup- 
plements in  the  Sunday  papers,  but  after  seeing 
Mose  perform  with  that  rolling-pin,  he  was  willing 
to  call  every  edition  of  the  "  funny  papers  "  realistic 
to  a  degree.  Since  it  was  Jim  who  helped  pull  Mose 
off,  naturally  he  felt  qualified  to  judge.  Jim  told 
Ford  about  the  affair  with  sober  face  and  eyes  that 
laughed. 

"  And  where  's  Dick  ?  "  Ford  asked  him,  without 
committing  himself  upon  the  justice  of  the  chastise- 
ment. . 

"  Gone  to  bed,  I  believe.  He  did  n't  come  out 
with  anything  worse  than  bumps,  I  guess  —  but  what 
I  saw  of  them  are  sure  peaches;  or  maybe  Italian 
prunes  would  hit  them  off  closer;  they  're  a  fine  pur- 
ple shade.    I  ladled  Three  II  all  over  him." 

"  I    thought   Dick    was    a   fighter   from    Fighter- 


232      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

ville,"  grinned  Ford,  trying  hard  to  remain  non-com- 
mittal and  making  a  poor  job  of  it. 

"  Well,  he  is,  when  he  can  stand  up  and  box  ac- 
cording to  rule,  or  hit  a  man  when  he  is  n't  looting. 
But  my,  oh !  This  was  n't  a  fight,  Ford ;  this  was 
like  the  pictures  you  see  of  an  old  woman  lambasting 
her  son-in-law  with  an  umbrella.  Dick  never  got  a 
chance  to  begiu.  Whee-ee !  Mose  sure  can  handle 
a  rolling-pin  some !  " 

Ford  laughed  and  went  up  to  the  house  to  his 
supper,  and  to  the  constrained  atmosphere  which  was 
telling  on  his  nerves  more  severely  than  did  the 
gallon  jug  in  his  closet,  and  the  moral  effort  it  cost 
to  keep  that  jug  full  to  the  neck. 

He  went  in  quietly,  threw  his  hat  on  the  bed,  and 
sat  down  with  an  air  of  discouragement.  It  was  not 
yet  six  o'clock,  and  he  knew  that  Mrs.  Kate  would 
not  have  supper  ready;  but  he  wanted  a  quiet  place 
in  which  to  think,  and  he  was  closer  to  Josephine; 
though  he  would  never  have  admitted  to  himself  that 
her  nearness  was  anv  comfort  to  him.  He  did  admit, 
however,   that   the   jug   with   the   brown   neck    and 


THE   CLIMB  233 

handle  pulled  hini  to  the  room  many  times  in  spite 
of  himself.  He  would  take  it  from  the  corner  of  the 
closet  and  let  his  fingers  close  over  the  cork,  but  so 
far  he  had  never  yielded  beyond  that  point.  Always 
he  had  been  able  to  set  the  jug  back  unopened. 

He  was  getting  circles  under  his  eyes,  two  new 
creases  had  appeared  on  each  side  of  his  whimsical 
lips,  and  a  permanent  line  was  forming  between  his 
eyebrows ;  but  he  had  not  opened  the  jug,  and  it  had 
been  in  his  possession  thirty-six  hours.  Thirty-six 
hours  is  not  long,  to  be  sure,  when  life  runs  smoothly 
with  slight  incidents  to  emphasize  the  figures  on  the 
dial,  but  it  may  seem  long  to  the  poor  devil  on  the 
rack. 

Just  now  Ford  was  trying  to  forget  that  a  gallon 
of  whisky  stood  in  the  right-hand  corner  of  his 
closet,  behind  a  pair  of  half-worn  riding-boots  that 
pinched  his  instep  so  that  he  seldom  wore  them,  and 
that  he  had  only  to  take  the  jug  out  from  behind 
the  boots,  pull  the  cork,  and  lift  the  jug  to  his  lips  — 

He  caught  himself  leaning  forward  and  staring  at 
the  closet  door  until  his  eyes  ached  with  the  strain. 


234      THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

lie  drew  back  and  passed  his  hand  over  his  fore- 
head; it  ached,  and  he  wanted  to  think  about  what 
he  ought  to  do  with  Dick.  He  did  not  like  to  dis- 
charge him  without  first  consulting  Mrs.  Kate,  for 
he  knew  that  Ches  Mason  was  in  the  habit  of  talking 
things  over  with  her,  and  since  Mason  was  gone, 
she  had  assumed  an  air  of  latent  authority.  But 
Mrs.  Kate  had  looked  at  him  with  such  reproachful 
eyes,  that  day  at  dinner,  and  her  voice  had  sounded 
so  squeezed  and  unnatural,  that  he  had  felt  too  far 
removed  from  her  for  any  discussion  whatever  to 
take  place  between  them. 

Besides,  he  knew  he  could  prove  absolutely  noth- 
ing against  Dick,  if  Dick  were  disposed  toward  flat 
denial.  He  might  suspect  —  but  the  facts  showed 
Ford  the  aggressor,  and  Mose  also.  What  if  Mrs. 
Kate  declined  to  believe  that  Dick  had  put  that  jug 
of  whisky  in  the  kitchen,  and  had  afterward  given 
it  to  Ford  ?  Ford  had  no  means  of  knowing  just 
what  tale  Dick  had  told  her,  but  he  did  know  that 
Mrs.  Kate  eyed  him  doubtfully,  and  that  her  con- 
versation was  forced  and  her  manner  constrained. 


THE   CLIMB  235 

And  Josephine  was  worse.  Josephine  had  not 
spoken  to  him  all  that  day.  At  breakfast  she  had 
not  been  present,  and  at  dinner  she  had  kept  her 
eyes  upon  her  plate  and  had  nothing  to  say  to  any 
one. 

He  wished  Mason  was  home,  so  that  he  could  leave. 
It  would  n't  matter  then,  he  tried  to  believe,  what 
he  did.  He  even  dwelt  upon  the  desire  of  Mason's 
return  to  the  extent  of  calculating,  with  his  eyes 
upon  the  fancy  calendar  on  the  wall  opposite,  the 
exact  time  of  his  absence.  Ten  days  —  there  was 
no  hope  of  release  for  another  month,  at  least,  and 
Ford  sighed  unconsciously  when  he  thought  of  it; 
for  although  a  month  is  not  long,  there  was  Josephine 
refusing  to  look  at  him,  and  there  was  Dick  —  and 
there  was  the  jug  in  the  closet. 

As  to  Josephine,  there  was  no  help  for  it ;  he 
could  not  avoid  her  without  making  the  avoidance 
plain  to  all  observers,  and  Ford  was  proud.  As  to 
Dick,  he  would  not  send  him  off  without  some  proof 
that  he  had  broken  an  unwritten  law  of  the  Double 
Cross  and  brought  whisky  to  the  ranch ;  and  of  that 


236      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

lie  had  no  proof.  As  to  his  suspicions  —  well,  he 
considered  that  Dick  had  almost  paid  the  penalty  for 
having  roused  them,  and  the  matter  would  have  to 
rest  where  it  was ;  for  Ford  was  just.  As  to  the 
jug,  he  could  empty  it  upon  the  ground  and  be  done 
with  that  particular  form  of  torture.  But  he  felt 
sure  that  Josephine  was  secretly  "  keeping  cases  " 
on  the  jug, — and  Ford  was  stubborn. 

That  night  Ford  did  not  respond  to  the  tinkle  of 
the  tea  bell.  His  head  ached  abominably,  and  he 
did  not  want  to  see  Josephine's  averted  face  opposite 
to  him  at  the  table.  He  lay  still  upon  the  bed 
where  he  had  finally  thrown  himself,  and  let  the 
bell  tinkle  until  it  was  tired. 

They  sent  Buddy  in  to  see  why  he  did  not  come. 
Buddy  looked  at  him  with  the  round,  curious  eyes 
of  precocious  childhood  and  went  back  and  reported 
that  Ford  was  n't  asleep,  but  was  just  lying  there 
mad.  Ford  heard  the  shrill  little  voice  innocently 
maligning  him,  and  swore  to  himself;  but  he  did 
not  move,  for  all  that.  He  lay  thinking  and  fight- 
ing  discouragement    and    thirst,    while    little    table 


THE   CLIMB  237 

sounds  came  through  the  partition  and  made  a  click- 
ing accompaniment  to  his  thoughts. 

If  he  were  free,  he  was  wondering  between  spells 
of  temptation,  would  it  do  any  good  ?  Would  Jose- 
phine care  ?  There  was  no  answer  to  that,  or  if 
there  was  he  did  not  know  what  it  was. 

After  awhile  the  two  women  began  talking ;  he 
judged  that  Buddy  had  left  them,  because  it  was 
sheer  madness  to  speak  so  freely  before  him.  At  first 
he  paid  no  attention  to  what  they  were  saying,  be- 
yond a  grudging  joy  in  the  sound  of  Josephine's 
voice.  It  had  come  to  that,  with  Ford !  But  when 
he  heard  his  name  spoken,  and  by  her,  he  lifted 
shamelessly  to  an  elbow  and  listened,  glad  that  the 
walls  were  so  thin,  and  that  those  who  dwell  in  thin- 
partitioned  houses  are  prone  to  forget  that  the  other 
rooms  may  not  be  quite  empty.  They  two  spent  most 
of  their  waking  hours  alone  together,  and  habit 
breeds  carelessness  always. 

"  Do  you  suppose  he  's  drunk  ?  "  Mrs.  Kate  asked, 
end  her  voice  was  full  of  uneasiness.  "  Chester  says 
he  's  terrible  when  he  gets  started.     I  was  sure  he 


238      THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

was  perfectly  safe !  I  just  can't  stand  it  to  have 
him  like  this.  Dick  told  me  he  's  drinking  a  little 
all  the  time,  and  there  's  no  telling  when  he  '11  break 
out,  and  —    Oh,  I  think  it 's  perfectly  terrible  !  " 

"  Hsh-sh,"  warned  Josephine. 

"  He  went  out,  quite  a  while  ago.  I  heard  him,', 
said  Mrs.  Kate,  with  rash  certainty.  "  He  has  n't 
been  like  himself  since  that  day  he  fought  Dick.  He 
must  be  —  " 

"  But  how  could  he  ? ':  Josephine's  voice  inter- 
rupted sharply.    "  That  jug  he  's  got  is  full  yet." 

Ford  could  imagine  Mrs.  Kate  shaking  her  head 
with  the  wisdom  born  of  matrimony. 

"  Don't  you  suppose  he  could  keep  putting  in  wa- 
ter ?  "  she  asked  pityingly.  Ford  almost  choked  when 
he  heard  that ! 

"  I  don't  believe  he  would."  Josephine's  tone  was 
dubious.  "  It  does  n't  seem  to  me  that  a  man  would 
do  that;  he'd  think  he  was  just  spoiling  what  was 
left.  That,"  she  declared  with  a  flash  of  inspira- 
tion, "  is  what  a  woman  would  do.  And  a  man  al- 
ways   does    something    different !  "     There    was    a 


THE   CLIMB  239 

pathetic  note  in  the  last  sentence,  which  struck  Ford 
oddly. 

"  Don't  think  yon  know  men,  my  dear,  until 
you've  been  married  to  one  for  eight  years  or  so," 
said  Mrs.  Kate  patronizingly.  "  "When  you  've 
been  —  " 

"  Oh,  for  mercy's  sake,  do  you  think  they  're  all 
alike?"  Josephine's  voice  was  tart  and  impatient. 
"  I  know  enough  about  men  to  know  they  're  all  dif- 
ferent. You  can't  judge  one  by  another.  And  I 
don't  believe  that  Ford  is  drinking  at  all.  He 's 
just  —  " 

"  Just  what  ?  —  since  you  know  so  well !  '  Mrs. 
Kate  was  growing  ironical. 

"  He  's  trying  not  to  —  and  worrying."  Her  voice 
lowered  until  it  took  love  to  hear  it.  Ford  did  hear, 
and  his  breath  came  fast.  He  did  not  catch  Mrs. 
Kate's  reply;  he  was  not  in  love  with  Mrs.  Kate, 
and  he  was  engaged  in  letting  the  words  of  Josephine 
sink  into  his  very  soul,  and  in  telling  himself  over 
and  over  that  she  understood.  It  seemed  to  him  a 
miracle  of  intuition,  that  she  should  sense  the  fight 


240      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

he  was  making;  and  since  he  felt  that  way  about  it, 
it  was  just  as  well  he  did  not  know  that  Jim  Felton 
sensed  it  quite  as  keenly  as  Josephine  —  and  with 
|  a  far  greater  understanding  of  how  bitter  a  fight 
it  was,  and  for  that  reason  a  deeper  sympathy. 

"  I  wish  Chester  was  here !  "  wailed  Mrs.  Kate, 
across  the  glow  of  his  exultant  thoughts.  "  I  'm 
afraid  to  say  anything  to  him  myself,  he  's  so  morose. 
It  's  a  shame,  because  he  's  so  splendid  when  he  's  — 
himself." 

"  He  's  as  much  himself  now  as  ever  he  was,"  Jose- 
phine defended  hotly.  "  When  he  's  drinking  he  '3 
altogether  —  " 

"  You  never  saw  him  drunk,"  Mrs.  Kate  pointed 
to  the  weak  spot  in  Josephine's  defense  of  him. 
"Dick  says  —  " 

"  Oh,  do  you  believe  everything  Dick  says  ?  A 
week  ago  you  were  bitter  against  Dick  and  all  en- 
thusiasm for  Ford." 

"  You  were  flirting  with  Dick  then,  and  you  'd 
hardly  treat  Ford  decently.  And  Ford  had  n't  gone 
to  drink  —  " 


THE   CLIMB  241 

"  Will  you  hush  ?  "  There  were  tears  of  anger 
in  Josephine's  voice.     "  He  is  n't,  I  tell  you !  " 

"What  does  he  keep  that  jug  in  the  closet  for? 
And  every  few  hours  he  comes  up  to  the  house  and 
goes  into  his  room  —  and  he  never  did  that  before. 
And  have  you  noticed  his  eyes  ?  He  '11  scarcely  talk 
any  more,  and  he  just  pretends  to  eat.  At  dinner 
to-day  he  scarcely  touched  a  thing !  It's  a  sure 
sign,  Phenie." 

Ford  was  growing  tired  of  that  sort  of  thing.  It 
dimmed  the  radiance  of  Josephine's  belief  in  him, 
to  have  Mrs.  Kate  so  sure  of  his  weakness.  He  got 
up  from  the  bed  as  quietly  as  he  could  and  left  the 
house.  He  was  even  more  thoughtful,  after  that,  but 
not  quite  so  gloomy  —  if  one  cared  enough  for  his 
moods  to  make  a  fine  distinction. 

Have  you  ever  observed  the  fact  that  many  of 
life's  grimmest  battles  and  deepest  tragedies  scarce 
ripple  the  surface  of  trivial  things  ?  We  are  always 
rubbing  elbows  with  the  big  issues  and  never  know- 
ing anything  about  it.  Certainly  no  one  at  the  Double 
Cross  guessed  what  was  always  in  the  mind  of  the 


242      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

foreman.  Jim  thought  he  was  "  sore  ';  because  of 
Dick.  Dick  thought  Ford  was  jealous  of  him,  and 
trying  to  think  of  some  scheme  to  "  play  even/'  with- 
out coming  to  open  war.  Mrs.  Kate  was  positive,  in 
her  purely  feminine  mind  —  which  was  a  very  good 
mind,  understand,  but  somewhat  inadequate  when 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  big  problems  of  life  —  that 
Ford  was  tippling  in  secret.  Josephine  thought  — 
just  what  she  said,  probably,  upon  the  chill  day 
when  she  calmly  asked  Ford  at  the  breakfast  table- 
if  he  would  let  her  go  with  him. 

Ford  had  casually  remarked,  in  answer  to  a  dif- 
fident question  from  Mrs.  Kate,  that  he  was  going 
to  ride  out  on  Long  Ridge  and  see  if  any  stock  was 
drifting  back  toward  the  ranch.  He  had  n't  sent 
any  one  over  that  way  for  several  days.  Ford,  be 
it  said,  had  announced  his  intention  deliberately, 
moved  by  a  vague,  unreasoning  impulse. 

"  Can  I  go  ?  "  teased  Buddy,  from  sheer  force  of 
habit ;  no  one  ever  mentioned  going  anywhere,  but 
Buddy  shot  that  question  into  the  conversation. 

"  No,  you  can't.     You  can't,  with  that  cold,"  his 


THE    CLIMB  243 

mother  vetoed  promptly,  and  Buddy,  whimpering 
over  his  hot  cakes,  knew  well  the  futility  of  argu- 
ment, when  Mrs.  Kate  used  that  tone  of  finality. 

"  Will  you  let  me  go  ?  "  Josephine  asked  unex- 
pectedly, and  looked  straight  at  Ford.  But  though 
her  glance  was  direct,  it  was  unreadable,  and  Ford 
mentally  threw  up  his  hands  after  one  good  look 
at  her,  and  tried  not  to  betray  the  fact  that  this  was 
what  he  had  wanted,  but  had  not  hoped  for. 

"  Sure,  you  can  go,"  he  said,  with  deceitful  brev- 
ity. Josephine  had  not  spoken  to  him  all  the  day 
before,  except  to  say  good-morning  when  he  came  in 
to  his  breakfast.  Ford  made  no  attempt  to  under- 
stand her,  any  more.  He  was  carefully  giving  her 
the  lead,  as  he  would  have  explained  it,  and  was 
merely  following  suit  until  he  got  a  chance  to  trump; 
but  he  was  beginning  to  have  a  discouraged  feeling 
that  the  game  was  hers,  and  that  he  might  as  well 
lay  down  his  hand  and  be  done  with  it.  Which,  when 
he  brought  the  simile  back  to  practical  affairs,  meant 
that  he  was  thinking  seriously  of  leaving  the  ranch 
and  the  country  just  as  soon  as  Mason  returned. 


244     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

He  was  thinking  of  trying  the  Argentine  Republic 
for  awhile,  if  he  could  sell  the  land  which  he  had 
rashly  bought  while  he  was  getting  rid  of  his  in- 
heritance. 

She  did  not  offer  any  excuse  for  the  request,  as 
most  women  would  have  done.  Neither  did  she 
thank  him,  with  lips  or  with  eyes,  for  his  ready  con- 
sent. She  seemed  distrait — preoccupied,  as  if  she, 
also,  were  considering  some  weighty  question. 

Ford  pushed  back  his  chair,  watching  her  fur- 
tively. She  rose  with  Kate,  and  glanced  toward  the 
window. 

"  I  suppose  I  shall  need  my  heaviest  sweater,"  she 
remarked  practically,  and  as  if  the  whole  affair  were 
too  commonplace  for  discussion.  "  It  does  look 
threatening.  How  soon  will  you  want  to  start  ?  " 
This  without  looking  toward  Ford  at  all. 

"  Right  away,  if  that  suits  you."  Ford  was  still 
watchful,  as  if  he  had  not  quite  given  up  hope  of 
reading  her  meaning. 

She  told  him  she  would  be  ready  by  the  time  he 
had  saddled,  and  she  appeared  in  the  stable  door 


THE    CLIMB  245 

while  he  was  cinching  the  saddle  on  the  horse  he 
meant  to  ride. 

"  I  hope  you  have  n't  given  me  Dude,"  she  said 
unemotionally.  "  He  's  supposed  to  be  gentle  —  but 
he  bucked  me  off  that  day  I  sprained  my  ankle,  and 
all  the  excuse  he  had  was  that  a  rabbit  jumped  out 
from  a  bush  almost  under  his  nose.  I  've  lost  faith 
in  him  since.  Oh  —  it 's  Hooligan,  is  it  ?  I  'm  glad 
of  that ;  Hooligan 's  a  dear  —  and  he  has  the  easiest 
gallop  of  any  horse  on  the  ranch.  Have  you  tried 
him  yet,  Ford  ?  " 

The  heart  of  Ford  lifted  in  his  chest  at  her  tone 
and  her  words,  along  toward  the  last.  He  forgot 
the  chill  of  her  voice  in  the  beginning,  and  he  dwelt 
greedily  upon  the  fact  that  once  more  she  had  called 
him  Ford.  But  his  joy  died  suddenly  when  he  led 
his  horse  out  and  discovered  that  Dick  and  Jim 
Felton  were  coming  down  the  path,  within  easy  hear- 
ing of  her.  Ford  did  not  know  women  very  well,  but 
most  men  are  born  with  a  rudimentary  understand- 
ing of  them.  He  suspected  that  her  intimacy  of  tone 
was  meant  for  Dick's  benefit;  and  when  they  had 


246      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

ridden  three  or  four  miles  and  her  share  of  the  con- 
versation during  that  time  had  consisted  of  "  yes  " 
twice,  "no"  three  times,  and  one  "  indeed,"  he  was 
sure  of  it. 

So  Ford  began  to  wonder  why  she  came  at  all  — 
unless  that,  also,  was  meant  to  discipline  Dick  —  and 
his  own  mood  became  a  silent  one.  He  did  not,  he 
told  himself  indignantly,  much  relish  being  used  as 
a  club  to  beat  some  other  man  into  good  behavior. 

They  rode  almost  to  Long  Ridge  before  Ford  dis- 
covered that  Josephine  was  stealing  glances  at  his 
face  whenever  she  thought  he  was  not  looking,  and 
that  the  glances  were  questioning,  and  might  almost 
be  called  timid.  He  waited  until  he  was  sure  he 
was  not  mistaken,  and  then  turned  his  head  unex- 
pectedly, and  smiled  into  her  startled  eyes. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  asked,  still  smiling  at  her.  "  I 
won't  bite.     Say  it,  why  don't  you  ?  " 

She  bit  her  lips  and  looked  away. 

"  I  wanted  to  ask  something  —  ask  you  to  do 
something,"  she  said,  after  a  minute.  And  then  hur- 
riedly, as  if  she  feared  her  courage  might  ebb  and 


THE   CLIMB  247 

leave  her  stranded,  "  I  wish  you  'd  give  me  that  — 


JU" 


&  • 


Sheer  surprise  held  Ford  silent,  staring  a*  her. 

"  I  don't  ask  many  favors  —  I  wish  you  'd  grant 
just  that  one.     I  would  n't  ask  another." 

"  What  do  you  want  of  it  ?  " 

"  Oh  —  "  she  stopped,  then  plunged  on  recklessly. 
"  It 's  getting  on  my  nerves  so !  And  if  you  gave  it 
to  me,  you  would  n't  have  to  fight  the  temptation  —  " 

"  Why  would  n't  I  ?  There  's  plenty  more  where 
that  came  from,"  he  reminded  her. 

"  But  it  would  n't  be  right  where  you  could  get 
it  any  time  the  craving  came.  Won't  you  let  me 
take  it  ? ':  He  had  never  before  heard  that  tone 
from  her;  but  he  fought  down  the  thrill  of  it  and 
held  himself  rigidly  calm. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know  —  the  jug's  doing  all  right, 
where  it  is,"  he  evaded ;  what  he  wanted  most  was  to 
get  at  her  real  object,  and,  man-like,  to  know  beyond 
doubt  whether  she  really  cared. 

"  But  you  don't  —  you  never  touch  it,"  she  urged. 
"  I  know,  because  —  well,  because  every  day  I  look 


248     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

into  it !  I  suppose  you  '11  say  I  have  no  right,  that 
it 's  spying,  or  something.  But  I  don't  care  for  that. 
And  I  can  see  that  it 's  worrying  you  dreadfully. 
And  if  you  don't  drink  any  of  it,  why  won't  you 
let  me  have  it  ?  " 

"  If  I  don't  drink  it,  what  difference  does  it  make 
who  has  it  ?  "  he  countered. 

"  I  'm  afraid  there  '11  be  a  time  when  you  '11  yield, 
just  because  you  are  blue  and  discouraged  —  or 
something;  whatever  mood  it  is  that  makes  the 
temptation  hardest  to  resist.  I  know  myself  that 
things  are  harder  to  endure  some  days  than  they  are 
others."  She  stopped  and  looked  at  him  in  that 
enigmatical  way  she  had.  "  You  may  not  know  it 
—  but  I  've  been  staying  here  just  to  see  whether 
you  fail  or  succeed.  I  thought  I  understood  a  little 
of  why  you  came,  and  I  —  I  stayed."  She  leaned 
and  twisted  a  wisp  of  Hooligan's  mane  nervously, 
and  Ford  noticed  how  the  color  came  and  went  in  the 
cheek  nearest  him. 

"I  —  oh,  it 's  awfully  hard  to  say  what  I  want 
to  say,  and  not  have  it  sound  different,"  she  began 


THE   CLIMB  249 

again,  without  looking  at  him.  "  But  if  you  don't 
understand  what  I  mean  —  "  Her  teeth  clicked  sug- 
gestively. 

Ford  leaned  to  her.  "  Say  it  anyway  and  take  a 
chance,"  he  urged,  and  his  voice  was  like  a  kiss, 
whether  he  knew  it  or  not.  He  did  know  that  she 
caught  her  breath  at  the  words  or  the  tone,  and  that 
the  color  flamed  a  deeper  tint  in  her  cheek  and  then 
faded  to  a  faint  glow. 

"  What  I  mean  is  that  I  appreciate  the  way  you 
have  acted  all  along.  I  —  it  was  n't  an  easy  situa- 
tion to  meet,  and  you  have  met  it  like  a  man  —  and 
a  gentleman.  I  was  afraid  of  you  at  first,  and  I 
misunderstood  you  completely.  I  'm  ashamed  to  con- 
fess it,  but  it 's  true.  And  I  want  to  see  you  make 
good  in  this  thing  you  have  attempted;  and  if 
there  's  anything  on  earth  that  I  can  do  to  help  you, 
I  want  you  to  let  me  do  it.  You  will,  won't  you  ?  " 
She  looked  at  him  then  with  clear,  honest  eyes.  "  It 's 
my  way  of  wanting  to  thank  you  for  —  for  not 
taking  any  advantage,  or  trying  to,  of  —  your  — 
position  that  night." 


250     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

Ford's  own  checks  went  hot.  "  I  thought  you 
knew  all  along  that  I  was  n't  a  cur,  at  least,"  he 
said  harshly.  "  I  never  knew  before  that  you  had 
any  reason  to  be  afraid  of  me,  that  night.  If  I'd 
known  that  —  but  I  thought  you  just  did  n't  like  me, 
and  let  it  go  at  that.  And  what  I  said  I  meant.  You 
need  n't  feel  that  you  have  anything  to  thank  me 
for;  I  haven't  done  a  thing  that  deserves  thanks  — 
or  fear  either,  for  that  matter." 

"  I  thought  you  understood,  when  I  left  —  " 
"  I  did  n't  worry  much  about  it,  one  way  or  the 
other,"  he  cut  in.  "  I  hunted  around  for  vou,  of 
course,  and  when  I  saw  you  'd  pulled  out  for  good, 
I  went  over  the  hill  and  camped.  I  did  n't  get  the 
note  till  next  morning ;  and  I  don't  know,"  he  added, 
with  a  brief  smile,  "  as  that  did  much  toward  making 
me  understand.  You  just  said  to  wait  till  some  one 
came  after  me.  Well,  I  did  n't  wait."  He  laughed 
and  leaned  toward  her  again.  "  ISTow  there  seems  a 
chance  of  our  being  —  pretty  good  friends,"  he  said, 
in  the  caressing  tone  he  had  used  before,  and  of 
which  he  was  utterly  unconscious,  "  we  won't  quarrel 


THE   CLIMB  251 

about  that  night,  will  we  ?  You  got  home  all  right, 
and  so  did  I.  We  '11  forget  all  about  it.  Won't 
we  ? "  He  laid  a  hand  on  the  horn  of  her  saddle  so 
that  they  rode  close  together,  and  tried  futilely  to 
read  what  was  in  her  face,  since  she  did  not  speak. 

Josephine  stared  blankly  at  the  brown  slope  before 
them.  Her  lips  were  set  firmly  together,  and  her 
brows  were  contracted  also,  and  her  gloved  fingers 
gripped  the  reins  tightly.  She  paid  not  the  slightest 
attention  to  Ford's  hand  upon  her  saddle  horn,  nor 
at  the  steady  gaze  of  his  eyes.  Later,  when  Ford 
observed  the  rigidity  of  her  whole  pose  and  sensed 
that  mental  withdrawing  which  needs  no  speech  to 
push  one  off  from  the  more  intimate  ground  of  com- 
panionship, he  wondered  a  little.  Without  in  the 
least  knowing  why  he  felt  rebuffed,  he  took  away  his 
hand,  and  swung  his  horse  slightly  away  from  her; 
his  own  back  stiffened  a  little  in  response  to  the 
chilled  atmosphere. 

"  Yes,"  she  said  at  last,  u  we  '11  forget  all  about 
it,  Mr.  Campbell." 

"  You  called  me  Ford,  a  while  ago,"  he  hinted. 


252     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

"  Did  I  ?  One  forms  the  habit  of  picking  up  a 
man's  given  name,  out  here  in  the  West,  I  find.  I  'm 
sorrv  —  " 

*j 

"I  don't  want  you  to  be  sorry.  I  want  you  to 
do  it  again.    All  the  time,"  he  added  boldly. 

He  caught  the  gleam  of  her  eyes  under  her  heavy 
lashes,  as  she  glanced  at  him  sidelong. 

"  If  you  go  looking  at  me  out  of  the  corner  of 
your  eyes,"  he  threatened  recklessly,  kicking  his 
horse  closer,  "  I  'm  liable  to  kiss  you ! ': 

And  he  did,  before  she  could  draw  away. 

"  I  've  been  kinda  thinking  maybe  I  'm  in  love 
with  you,  Josephine,"  he  murmured,  holding  her 
close.  "  And  now  I  'm  dead  sure  of  it.  And  if  you 
won't  love  me  back  why  —  there  '11  be  something 
doing,  that 's  all !  " 

"  Yes  ?  And  what  would  you  do,  please  ? ':  Her 
tone  was  icv,  but  he  somehow  felt  that  the  ice  was 
very,  very  thin,  and  that  her  heart  beat  warm  be- 
neath.    She  drew  herself  free,  and  he  let  her  go. 

"  I  dunno,"  he  confessed  whimsically.  *  But 
Lordy  me !    I  'd  sure  do  something !  " 


THE   CLIMB  253 

*'  Look  for  comfort  in  that  j'.:g.   I  snppe? 
mean !  ' ' 

'"  No,  I  don't  mean  that.''     He  stopped  and  eon- 

ered.  his  forehead  creased  as  if  he  were  half  angry 

at  the  imputation.     "I'm  pr  .re  of  where  I 

stand,  on  that  subject.     I  've  done  a  lot  of  thinking, 

since  I  hit  the  Double  Gross —  and  I  at  out 

for  good. 

"  I  know  what  vou  thou_- ht  ind  what  Mrs.  I\ 
think-  :  and  1*11  admit  it  was  m._  tough 
scratching  for  a  couple  of  da;-  -  .-:"  r  I  got  hold  ( 
jug.  But  I  found  out  which  was  master  —  and  it 
was  n't  the  booze !  "  He  looked  at  her  with  ey  - 
that  shone.  "J:;ie.  girl,  I  took  a  long  chance  — 
but  I  put  it  up  to  myself  this  way,  when  the  jug 
-    med  to  be  on  top.    I  told  myself  it  was  whisky  or 

i;  not  that  exactly,  either.     It's  bar.'        Bay 
what  I  do  mean.     Not  you.  maybe  —  but  what  you 
stand  for.     What  I  could  get  out  of  li: 
straight  and  lived  clean,  and  Lad  a  little  woman  like 
you.    It  may  not  be  you  at  all ;  th.  you  —  " 

He  stopped  as  if  some  one  had  laid  a  hand  over 


254     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

his  mouth.  It  was  not  as  she  said.  It  might  have 
been,  only  for  that  drunken  marriage  of  his.  Never 
before  had  he  hated  whisky  as  bitterly  as  he  did 
then,  when  he  remembered  what  it  had  done  for  him 
that  night  in  Sunset,  and  what  it  was  doing  now.  It 
closed  his  lips  upon  what  he  would  have  given  much 
to  be  able  to  say;  for  he  was  a  man  with  all  the 
instincts  of  chivalry  and  honor  —  and  he  loved  the 
girl.  It  was,  he  realized  bitterly,  just  because  he 
did  love  her  so  well,  that  he  could  not  say  more.  He 
had  said  too  much  already;  but  her  nearness  had 
gone  to  his  head,  and  he  had  forgotten  that  he  was 
not  free  to  say  what  he  felt. 

Perhaps  Josephine  mistook  his  sudden  silence  for 
trepidation,  or  humility.  At  any  rate  she  reined 
impulsively  close,  and  reached  out  and  caught  the 
hand  hanging  idly  at  his  side. 

"  Ford,  I  'm  no  coquette,"  she  said  straightfor- 
wardly, with  a  blush  for  maiden-modesty's  sake.  "  I 
believe  you;  absolutely  and  utterly  I  believe  you. 
If  you  had  been  different  at  first  —  if  you  had  made 
any  overtures  whatever  toward  —  toward  lovemak- 


"Ford,  I  "in  no  coquette,"  she  said  straightforwardly,     Ptjgre  2">4. 


THE   CLIMB  255 

ing,  I  should  have  despised  you.  I  never  would 
have  loved  jou  in  this  world !  But  you  did  n't.  You 
kept  at  such  a  distance  that  I  —  I  could  n't  help 
thinking  about  you  and  studying  you.  And  lately  — 
when  I  knew  you  were  fighting  the  —  the  habit  —  I 
loved  you  for  the  way  you  did  fight.  I  was  afraid, 
too.  I  used  to  slip  into  your  room  every  time  you 
left  it,  and  look  —  and  I  just  ached  to  help  you ! 
But  I  knew  I  could  n't  do  a  thing ;  and  that  was 
the  hardest  part.  All  I  could  do  was  stand  back  — ■ 
clear  back  out  of  sight,  and  hope.  And  —  and  love 
you,  too,  Ford.  I  'm  proud  of  you !  I  'm  proud  to 
think  that  I  —  I  love  a  man  that  is  a  man ;  that 
does  n't  sit  down  and  whine  because  a  fight  is  hard, 
or  give  up  and  say  it 's  no  use.  I  do  despise  a  moral 
weakling,  Ford.  I  don't  mind  what  you  have  been; 
it 's  what  you  are,  that  counts  with  me.  And  you  're 
a  man,  every  inch  of  you.  I  'm  not  a  bit  afraid 
you  '11  weaken.  Only,"  she  added  half  apologetically, 
"  I  did  want  you  to  give  me  tho  —  the  jug,  because 
I  could  n't  bear  to  see  you  look  so  worried."  She 
gave  his  fingers  an  adorable  little  squeeze,  and  flung 


256     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

his  hand  away  from  her,  and  laughed  in  a  way  to 
set  his  heart  pounding  heavily  in  his  chest.  "  Now 
you  know  where  I  stand,  Mr.  Man,"  she  cried  lightly, 
"  so  let 's  say  no  more  about  it.  I  bet  I  can  beat  you 
across  this  flat !  "  She  laughed  again,  wrinkled  her 
nose  at  him  impertinently,  and  was  off  in  a  run. 

If  she  had  waited,  Ford  would  have  told  her.  If 
she  had  given  him  a  chance,  he  would  have  told  her 
afterward;  but  she  did  not.  She  was  extremely 
careful  not  to  let  their  talk  become  intimate,  after 
that.  She  laughed,  she  raced  Hooligan  almost  to  the 
point  of  abuse,  she  chattered  about  everything  under 
the  sun  that  came  into  her  mind,  except  their  own 
personal  affairs  or  anything  that  could  possibly  lead 
up  to  the  subject. 

Ford,  for  a  time,  watched  for  an  opening  honestly; 
saw  at  last  the  impossibility  of  telling  her  —  unless 
indeed  he  shouted,  "  Say,  I  'm  a  married  man ! "  to 
her  without  preface  or  extenuating  explanation  — 
and  yielded  finally  to  the  reprieve  the  fates  sent  him. 


CHAPTEK  XVI 

TO   FIND    AND    FKEE    A    WIFE 

FOED  spent  the  rest  of  that  day  and  all  of  the 
night  that  followed,  in  thinking  what  would  be 
the  best  and  the  easiest  method  of  gaining  the  point  he 
wished  to  reach.  All  along  he  had  been  uncomforta- 
bly aware  of  his  matrimonial  entanglement  and  had 
meant,  as  soon  as  he  conveniently  could,  to  try  and 
discover  who  was  his  wife,  and  how  best  to  free  him- 
self and  her.  He  had  half  expected  that  she  herself 
would  do  something  to  clear  the  mystery.  She  had 
precipitated  the  marriage,  he  constantly  reminded 
himself,  and  it  was  reasonable  to  expect  that  she 
would  do  something;  though  what,  Ford  could  only 
conjecture. 

When  he  faced  Josephine  across  the  breakfast 
table  the  next  morning,  and  caught  the  shy  glance 
she  gave  him  when  Mrs,  Kate  was  not  looking,  a 


258        THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

plan  he  had  half  formed  crystallized  into  a  determina- 
tion. He  would  not  tell  her  anything  about  it  until 
he  knew  just  what  he  was  up  against,  and  how  long 
it  was  going  to  take  him  to  free  himself.  And  since 
he  could  not  do  anything  about  it  while  he  rode 
and  planned  and  gave  orders  at  the  Double  Cross, 
he  swallowed  his  breakfast  rather  hurriedly  and  went 
out  to  find  Jim  Felton. 

"  Say,  Jim,"  he  began,  when  he  ran  that  indi- 
vidual to  earth  in  the  stable,  where,  with  a  pair  of 
sheep  shears,  he  was  roaching  the  mane  of  a  shaggy 
old  cow  pony  to  please  Buddy,  who  wanted  to  make 
him  look  like  a  circus  horse,  even  if  there  was  no 
hope  of  his  ever  acting  like  one.  "  I  'in  going  to 
hand  you  the  lines  and  let  you  drive,  for  a  few  days. 
I  've  got  to  scout  around  on  business  of  my  own,  and 
I  don't  know  just  how  long  it 's  going  to  take  me. 
I  'm  going  right  away  —  to-day." 

"  Yeah  ?  "  Jim  poised  the  shears  in  air  and  re- 
garded him  quizzically  over  the  pony's  neck.  "  Go- 
ing to  pass  me  foreman's  privilege  —  to  hire  and 
fire  ? "  he  grinned.     "  Because  I  may  as  well  tell 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  259 

you  that  if  you  do,  Dick  won't  be  far  behind  you 
on  the  trail." 

"  Oh,  darn  Dick.  I  '11  fire  him  myself,  maybe, 
before  I  leave.  Yes,"  he  added,  thinking  swiftly  of 
Josephine  as  the  object  of  Dick's  desires,  "  that 's 
what  I  '11  do.  Maybe  it  '11  save  a  lot  of  trouble 
while  I  'm  gone.    He  's  a  tricky  son-of-a-gun." 

"  You're  dead  right ;  he  is,"  Jim  agreed.  And 
then,  dryly :  "  Grandmother  just  died  ?  " 

"  Oh,  shut  up.  This  ain't  an  excuse  —  it 's  busi- 
ness. I  've  just  got  to  go,  and  that 's  all  there  is  to 
it.  I  '11  fix  things  with  the  missus,  and  tell  her 
you  're  in  charge.  Anyway,  I  won't  be  gone  any 
longer  than  I  can  help." 

"  I  believe  that,  too,"  said  Jim  softly,  and  busied 
himself  with  the  shears. 

Ford  looked  at  him  sharply,  in  doubt  as  to  just 
how  much  or  how  little  Jim  meant  by  that.  He 
finally  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  went  away  to  tell 
Mrs.  Kate,  and  found  that  a  matter  which  required 
more  diplomacy  than  ho  ever  suspected  he  possessed. 
But  he  did  tell  her,  and  he  hoped  that  she  believed  the 


260     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

reason  he  gave  for  going,  and  also  had  some  faith  in 
his  assurance  that  he  would  be  back,  probably,  in 
a  couple  of  days  —  or  as  soon  afterwards  as  might  be. 

"  There  's  nothing  but  chores  to  do  now  around 
the  ranch,  and  Jack  will  ride  fence,"  he  explained 
unnecessarily,  to  cover  his  discomfort  at  her  coldness. 
"Jim  can  look  after  things  just  as  well  as  I  can. 
There  won't  be  any  need  to  start  feeding  the  calves, 
unless  it  storms;  and  if  it  does,  Jim  and  Jack  will 
go  ahead,  all  right.  I  'm  going  to  let  Dick  and  Curly 
go.  We  don't  need  more  than  two  men  besides  Walt, 
from  now  on." 

"  I  wish  Chester  was  here,"  said  Mrs.  Kate  am- 
biguously. 

Ford  did  not  ask  her  why  she  wished  that.  He 
told  her  good-by  as  hastily  as  if  he  had  to  run  to 
catch  a  train,  and  left  her.  He  hoped  he  would 
be  lucky  enough  to  see  Josephine  —  and  then  he 
hoped  quite  as  sincerely  that  he  would  not  see  her, 
after  all.  It  would  be  easier  to  go  without  her  clear 
eyes  asking  him  why. 

What  he  meant  to  do  first  was  to  find  Rock,  and 


TO   FIND   A   WIFE  261 

see  if  he  had  been  sober  enough  that  night  in  Sunset 
to  remember  what  happened  at  the  marriage  cere- 
mony, and  could  give  him  some  clue  as  to  the  wom- 
an's identity  and  whereabouts.  If  he  failed  there, 
he  intended  to  hunt  up  the  preacher.  That,  also, 
presented  certain  difficulties,  but  Ford  was  in  the 
mood  to  overcome  obstacles.  Once  he  discovered  who 
the  woman  was,  it  seemed  to  him  that  there  should 
be  no  great  amount  of  trouble  in  getting  free.  As 
he  understood  it,  he  was  not  the  man  she  had  intended 
to  marry;  and  not  being  the  man  she  wanted,  she 
certainly  could  not  be  over-anxious  to  cling  to  him. 

While  he  galloped  down  the  trail  to  town,  he  went 
over  the  whole  thing  again  in  his  mind,  to  see  if 
there  might  be  some  simpler  plan  than  the  one  he 
had  formed  in  the  night. 

"  No,  sir  —  it 's  Rock  I  Ve  got  to  see  first,"  he 
concluded.  "  But  Lord  only  knows  where  I  '11  find 
him ;  Rock  never  does  camp  twice  in  the  same  place. 
Never  knew  him  to  stay  more  than  a  month  with 
one  outfit.     But  I  '11  find  him,  all  right!  " 

And  by  one  of  those  odd  twists  of  circumstances 


262      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

which  sets  men  to  wondering  if  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  telepathy  and  a  specifically  guiding  hand  and  the 
like,  it  was  Rock  and  none  other  whom  he  met  fairly 
in  the  trail  before  he  had  gone  another  mile. 

"  Well,  I  '11  be  gol  darned ! '  Ford  whispered  in- 
credulously to  himself,  and  pulled  up  short  in  the 
trail  to  wait  for  him. 

Rock  came  loping  up  with  elbows  flapping  loosely, 
as  was  his  ungainly  habit.  His  grin  was  wide  and 
golden  as  of  yore,  his  hat  at  the  same  angle  over  his 
right  eyebrow. 

"  Gawd  bless  you,  brother !  May  peace  ride  behind 
your  cantle !  "  he  declaimed  unctuously,  for  Rock  was 
a  character,  in  his  way,  and  in  his  speech  was  not 
in  the  least  like  other  men.  "  Whither  wendest 
thou?" 

"  My  wending  is  all  over  for  the  present,"  said 
Ford,  wheeling  his  horse  short  around,  that  he  might 
ride  alongside  the  other.  "I  started  out  to  hunt 
you  up,  you  old  devil.    How  are  you,  anyway  ? ': 

"  It  is  well  with  me,  and  well  with  my  soul  —  what 
little  I  've  got  —  but  it  ain't  io  well  with  my  winter 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  263 

grub-stake.  I  'in  just  as  tickled  to  see  you  as  you 
ever  dare  be  to  meet  up  with  me,  and  that  'a  no 
lie.  I  heard  you  've  got  a  stand-in  with  the  Double 
Cross,  and  seeing  they  ain't  on  to  my  little  peculiari- 
ties, I  thought  I  'd  ride  out  and  see  if  I  could  n't 
work  you  for  a  soft  snap.  Got  any  ducks  out  there 
you  want  led  to  water  ? " 

"  Maybe  —  I  dunno.  I  just  canned  two  men  this 
morning,  before  I  left."  Ford  was  debating  with 
himself  how  best  to  approach  the  subject  to  him  most 
important. 

"  Good  ee-nough !  I  can  take  the  place  of  those  two 
men;  eat  their  share  of  grub,  do  their  share  of 
snoring,  and  shirk  their  share  of  work,  and  drink 
their  share  of  booze  —  oh,  lovely !  But,  in  the  words 
of  the  dead,  immortal  Shakespeare,  '  What 's  eating 
you  ? '  You  look  to  me  as  if  you  had  n't  enjoyed  tho 
delights  of  a  good,  stiff  jag  since  —  "  He  waved  a 
hand  vaguely.  "  Ain't  a  scar  on  you,  so  help  me !  " 
He  regarded  Ford  with  frank  curiosity. 

"  Oli,  yes  there  is.  I  've  got  the  hide  peeled  off 
two  knuckles,  and  one  of  my  thumbs  is  just  getting 


264     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

so  it  will  move  without  being  greased,"  Ford  assured 
him,  and  then  went  straight  at  what  was  on  his  mind. 

"  Say,  Kock,  I  was  told  that  you  had  a  hand  in 
my  getting  married,  back  in  Sunset  that  night." 

Eock  made  his  horse  back  until  it  nearly  fell  over 
a  rock;  his  face  showed  exaggerated  symptoms  of 
terror. 

"  I  could  n't  help  it,"  he  wailed.  {i  Spare  muh  — 
for  muh  poor  mother's  sake,  oh  spare  muh  life ! ': 
Whereat  Ford  laughed,  just  as  Eock  meant  that  he 
should  do.  "  You  licked  Bill  twice  for  that,  they 
tell  me,"  Eock  went  on,  quitting  his  foolery  and 
coming  up  close  again.  "  And  you  licked  the 
preacher  that  night,  and  —  so  the  tale  runneth  —  like 
to  have  put  the  whole  town  on  the  jinks.  Is  there 
anything  in  particular  you  'd  like  to  do  to  me  ?  " 
i  "  I  just  want  you  to  tell  me  who  I  married  —  if 
you  can."  Ford  reddened  as  the  other  stared,  but 
he  did  not  stop.  "  I  was  so  darned  full  that  night 
I  let  the  whole  business  ooze  out  of  my  memory, 
and  I  have  n't  been  able  to  —  " 

Eock  was  leaning  over  the  saddle  horn,  howling 


TO   FIND  A  WIFE  265 

and  watery-eyed.  Ford  looked  at  him  with  a  dawn- 
ing suspicion. 

"  It  did  strike  me,  once  or  twice/'  he  said  grimly, 
"  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  put-up  job.  If  you 
fellows  rigged  up  a  josh  like  that,  and  let  it  go  as 
far  as  this,  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  souls, 
for  I  won't !  " 

But  Rock  could  only  wave  him  off  weakly;  so 
Ford  waited  until  he  had  recovered.  Even  then,  it 
took  some  talking  to  convince  Rock  that  the  affair 
was  truly  serious  and  not  to  be  treated  any  longer 
as  a  joke. 

"  Why,  damn  it,  man,  I  'm  in  love  with  a  girl 
and  I  want  to  marry  her  if  I  can  get  rid  of  this  other 
darned,  mysterious,  Tom-fool  of  a  woman,"  Ford 
gritted  at  last,  in  sheer  desperation.  "  Or  if  it 's 
just  a  josh,  by  this  and  by  that  I  mean  to  find  it 
out." 

Rock  sobered  then.  "  It  ain't  any  josh,"  he  said, 
with  convincing  earnestness.  "  You  got  married,  all 
right  enough.  And  if  it 's  as  you  say,  Ford,  I  sure 
am  sorry  for  it.     I  don't  know  the  girl's  name.    I  'd 


266     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

know  her  quick  enough  if  I  should  see  her,  but  I 
can't  tell  you  who  she  was." 

Ford  swore,  of  course.  And  Rock  listened  sym- 
pathetically until  he  was  done. 

"  That 's  the  stuff ;  get  it  out  of  your  system,  Ford, 
and  then  you  '11  feel  better.  Then  we  can  put  our 
heads  together  and  see  if  there  isn't  some  way  to 
beat  this  combination." 

"  Could  you  spot  the  preacher,  do  you  reckon ! " 
asked  Ford  more  calmly. 

"  I  could  —  if  he  did  n't  see  us  coming,"  Rock 
admitted  guardedly.  "  Name  of  Sanderson,  I  be- 
lieve. I  've  seen  him  around  Garbin.  He  could  tell 
—  he  must  have  some  record  of  it ;  but  would  he  ?  " 

"  Don't  you  know,  even,  why  she  came  and 
glommed  onto  me  like  that  ?  "  Ford's  face  was  as 
anxious  as  his  tone. 

"  Only  what  you  told  me,  confidentially,  in  a  cor- 
ner afterwards,"  said  Rock  regretfully.  "  Maybe  you 
told  it  straight,  and  maybe  you  did  n't ;  there  'a  no 
banking  on  a  man's  imagination  when  he  'a  soused. 
But  the  way  you  told  it  to  mo  wai  this: 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  267 

"  Yon  said  the  girl  told  you  that  she  was  working 
for  some  queer  old  party  —  an  old  lady  with  lota 
of  dough ;  and  she  made  her  will  and  give  her  money 
all  to  some  institution — hospital  or  some  darned 
thing,  I  forget  just  what,  or  else  you  'didn't  say. 
Only,  if  this  girl  would  marry  her  son  within  a 
certain  time,  he  could  have  the  wad.  Seems  the  son 
was  something  of  a  high-roller,  and  the  old  lady 
knew  he  'd  blow  it  in,  if  it  was  turned  over  to  him 
without  any  ballast,  like;  and  the  girl  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  ballast,  to  hold  him  steady.  So  the 
old  lady,  or  else  it  was  the  girl,  writes  to  this  fellow, 
and  he  agrees  to  hook  up  with  the  lady  and  take 
the  money  and  behave  himself.  Near  as  I  could 
make  it  out,  the  time  was  just  about  up  before  the 
girl  took  matters  into  her  own  hand,  and  come  out 
on  a  hunt  for  this  Frank  Cameron.  How  she  hap- 
pened to  sink  her  rope  on  you  instead,  and  take  her 
turns  before  she  found  out  her  mistake,  you  '11  have 
to  ask  her  —  if  you  ever  see  her  again. 

"  But  this  much  you  told  me  —  and  I  think  you 
got  it  straight.     The  girl  was  willing  to  marry  you 


268      THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

—  or  Frank  Cameron  —  so  he  could  get  what  he- 
longed  to  him.  She  was  n't  going  to  do  any  more, 
though,  and  you  told  me  "  —  Rock's  manner  hecame 
very  impressive  here  — "  that  you  promised  her,  as 
a  man  and  a  gentleman,  that  you  would  n't  ever 
bother  her,  and  that  she  was  to  travel  her  own  trail, 
and  she  did  n't  want  the  money.  She  just  wanted  to 
dodge  that  fool  will,  seems  like.  Strikes  mel'da  let 
the  fellow  go  plumb  to  Guinea,  if  I  was  in  her  place, 
but  women  get  queer  notions  of  duty,  and  the  like 
of  that,  sometimes.  Looks  to  me  like  a  fool  thing 
for  a  woman  to  do,  anyway." 

Though  they  talked  a  good  while  about  it,  that 
was  all  the  real  information  which  Ford  could  gain. 
lie  would  have  to  find  the  minister  and  persuade 
him  to  show  the  record  of  the  marriage,  and  after 
that  he  would  have  to  find  the  girl. 

Before  they  reached  that  definite  conclusion,  the 
storm  which  had  been  brewing  for  several  davs 
swooped  down  upon  them,  and  drove  Ford  to  the 
alternative  of  riding  in  the  teeth  of  it  to  town,  which 
was  not  only  unpleasant  but  dangerous,  if  it  grew 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  269 

any  worse,  or  retracing  his  steps  to  the  Double  Cross 
and  waiting  there  until  it  was  over.  So  that  is  what 
he  did,  with  Rock  to  bear  him  willing  company. 

They  met  Dick  and  Curly  on  the  way,  and  though 
Ford  stopped  them  and  suggested  that  they  turn  back 
also,  neither  would  do  so.  Curly  intimated  plainly 
that  the  joys  of  town  were  calling  to  him  from  afar, 
and  that  facing  a  storm  was  merely  calculated  to 
make  his  destination  more  alluring  by  contrast. 
"  Turn  back  with  two  months'  wages  burning  up  my 
inside  pocket  ?  Oh,  no !  "  he  laughed,  and  rode  on. 
Dick  did  not  say  why,  but  he  rode  on  also.  Ford 
turned  in  the  saddle  and  looked  after  them,  as  they 
disappeared  in  a  swirl  of  fine  snow. 

"  That 's  what  I  ought  to  do,"  he  said,  "  but  I  'm 
not  going  to  do  it,  all  the  same." 

"  Which  only  goes  to  prove,"  bantered  Rock,  "  that 
the  Double  Cross  pulls  harder  than  all  the  preacher 
could  tell  you.  I  wonder  if  there  isn't  a  girl  at 
the  Double  Cross,  now !  " 

"  There  is,"  Ford  confessed,  with  a  grin  of  em- 
barrassment.    "  And  you  shut  up." 


270     THE   UPHILL    CLIMB 

"  I  just  had  a  hunch  there  was,"  Rock  permitted 
himself  to  say  meekly,  before  he  dropped  the  subject. 

It  was  ten  minutes  before  Ford  spoke  again. 

"  I  '11  take  you  up  to  the  house  and  introduce  you 
to  her,  Rock,  if  you  '11  behave  yourself,"  he  offered 
then,  with  a  shyness  in  his  manner  that  nearly  set 
Rock  off  in  one  of  his  convulsions  of  mirth.  "  But 
the  missus  is  n't  wise  —  so  watch  out.  And  if  you 
don't  behave  yourself,"  he  added  darkly,  "  I  '11  knock 
your  block  off." 

"  Sure.  But  my  block  is  going  to  remain  right 
where  it 's  at,"  Rock  assured  him,  which  was  a  tacit 
promise  of  as  perfect  behavior  as  he  could  attain. 

They  looked  like  snow  men  when  they  unsaddled, 
with  the  powdery  snow  beaten  into  the  very  fabric  of 
their  clothing,  and  Ford  suggested  that  they  go  first 
to  the  bunk-house  to  thaw  out.  "  I  'd  sure  hate  to 
pack  all  this  snow  into  Mrs.  Kate's  parlor,"  he  added 
whimsically.  "  She  's  the  kind  of  housekeeper  that 
grabs  the  broom  the  minute  you  're  gone,  to  sweep 
your  tracks  off  the  carpet.  Awful  nice  little  woman, 
but—" 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  271 

"  But  not  The  One/'  chuckled  Rock,  treading 
close  upon  Ford's  heels.  "  And  I  '11  bet  fifteen 
cents,"  he  offered  rashly,  looking  up,  "  that  the  per- 
son hitting  the  high  places  for  the  bunk-house  is 
The  One." 

"  How  do  vou  know  ?  "  Ford  demanded,  while  his 
eyes  gladdened  at  sight  of  Josephine,  with  a  Navajo 
blanket  flung  over  her  head,  running  down  the  path 
through  the  blizzard  to  the  bunk-house  kitchen. 

"  'Cause  she  shied  when  she  saw  you  coming. 
Came  pretty  near  breaking  back  on  you,  too,"  Rock 
explained  shrewdly. 

They  reached  the  kitchen  together,  and  Ford  threw 
open  the  door,  and  held  it  for  her  to  pass. 

"  I  came  after  some  of  Mose's  mince-meat,"  she 
explained  hastily.  "  It 's  a  terrible  storm,  is  n't  it  ? 
I  'm  glad  it  did  n't  strike  yesterday.  I  thought  you 
were  going  to  be  gone  for  several  days." 

Ford,  with  embarrassed  haste  to  match  her  own, 
presented  Rock  in  the  same  breath  with  wishing  that 
Rock  was  elsewhere;  for  Mose  was  not  in  the  kitchen, 
and  he  had  not  had  more  than  a  few  words  with  her 


272       THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

for  twenty-four  hours.  He  was  perilously  close  to 
forgetting  his  legal  halter  when  he  looked  at  her. 

She  was,  he  thought,  about  as  sweet  a  picture  of 
a  woman  as  a  man  need  ever  look  upon,  as  she  stood 
there  with  the  red  Navajo  blanket  falling  back  from 
her  dark  hair,  and  with  her  wide,  honest  eyes  fixed 
upon  Rock.  She  was  blushing,  as  if  she,  too,  wished 
Rock  elsewhere.  She  turned  impulsively,  set  down 
the  basin  she  had  been  holding  in  her  arm,  and  pulled 
the  blanket  up  so  that  it  framed  her  face  be- 
witchingly. 

"  Mose  can  bring  up  the  mince-meat  when  he 
comes — since  he  isn't  here,"  she  said  hurriedly. 
"  We  were  n't  looking  for  you  back,  but  dinner  will 
be  ready  in  half  an  hour  or  so,  I  think."  She  pulled 
open  the  door  and  went  out  into  the  storm. 

Rock  stared  at  the  door,  still  quivering  with  the 
slam  she  had  given  it.  Then  he  looked  at  Ford, 
and  afterward  sat  down  weakly  upon  a  stool,  and 
began  dazedly  pulling  the  icicles  from  his  mustache. 

"  Well  —  I  '11  —  be  —  cremated !  "  he  said  in  a 
whisper. 


TO   FIND   A  WIFE  273 

"  And  what 's  eating  you,  Rock  ?  "  Ford  quizzed 
gayly.  He  had  seen  something  in  the  eyes  of  Jose- 
phine, when  he  met  her,  that  had  set  his  blood  jump- 
ing again.     "  Did  Miss  Melby  —  " 

"  Miss  Melby  my  granny !  "  grunted  Rock,  in  deep 
disgust.    "  That  there  is  your  wife !  " 

Ford  backed  up  against  the  wall  and  stared  at 
him  blankly.  Afterward  he  took  a  deep  breath  and 
went  out  as  though  the  place  was  on  fire. 


CHAPTEK  XVII 

WHAT   FORD    FOUXD  AT    THE    TOP 

T710KD  CAMPBELL  was  essentially  a  man  of 
"*■  action ;  he  did  not  waste  ten  seconds  in  trying 
to  deduce  the  whys  and  hows  of  the  amazing  fact; 
he  would  have  a  whole  lifetime  in  which  to  study 
them.  He  started  for  the  house,  and  the  tracks 
he  made  in  the  loose,  shifting  snow  were  considerably 
more  than  a  yard  apart.  He  even  forgot  to  stamp 
off  the  clinging  snow  and  scour  his  boot-soles  upon 
the  porch  rug,  and  when  he  went  striding  in,  he 
pushed  the  door  only  half  shut  behind  him,  so  that 
it  swung  in  the  wind  and  let  a  small  drift  collect 
upon  the  parlor  carpet,  until  Mrs.  Kate,  feeling  a 
draught,  discovered  it,  and  was  shocked  beyond  words 
at  the  sacrilege. 

Ford  went  into  the  dining-room,  crossed  it  in  just 
three  strides,   and  ran  his  quarry  to  earth  in  the 


WHAT   FORD   FOUND      275 

kitchen,  where  she  was  distraitly  setting  out  biscuit 
materials.  He  started  toward  her,  realized  suddenly 
that  the  all-observing  Buddy  was  at  his  very  heels, 
and  delayed  the  reckoning  while  he  led  that  terrible 
man-child  to  his  mother. 

"  I  wish  vou  'd  close-herd  this  kid  for  about  four 
hours,"  he  told  Mrs.  Kate  bluntly,  and  left  her  look- 
ing scared  and  unconsciously  posing  as  protective 
motherhood,  her  arm  around  the  outraged  Robert 
Chester  Mason.  Mrs.  Kate  was  absolutely  convinced 
that  Ford  was  at  last  really  drunk  and  "  on  the 
rampage,"  and  she  had  a  terrible  vision  of  slain 
girlhood  in  the  kitchen,  so  that  she  was  torn  between 
mother-love  and  her  desire  to  protect  Phenie.  But 
Ford  had  looked  so  threateningly  at  her  and  Buddy 
that  she  could  riot  bring  herself  to  attract  his  atten- 
tion to  the  child  or  herself.  Phenie  had  plenty  of 
spirit ;  she  could  run  down  to  the  bunk-house  — 
Mrs.  Kate  heard  a  door  slam  then,  and  shuddered. 
Phenie,  she  judged  swiftly,  had  locked  herself  into 
the  pantry. 

Phenie  had.     Or,  to  be  exact,  she  had  run  in  and 


276        THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

slammed  the  door  shut  in  Ford's  very  face,  and  she 
was  leaning  her  weight  against  it.  Mrs.  Kate,  press- 
ing the  struggling  Buddy  closer  to  her,  heard  voices, 
a  slight  commotion,  and  then  silence.  She  could 
bear  no  more.  She  threw  a  shawl  over  her  head, 
grasped  Buddy  firmly  by  the  arm,  and  fled  in  terror 
to  the  bunk-house. 

The  voices  were  a  brief  altercation  between  Ford 
and  Josephine,  on  the  subject  of  opening  the  door, 
before  it  was  removed  violently  from  its  hinges. 
The  commotion  was  when  Josephine,  between  tears 
and  laughter,  failed  to  hold  the  door  against  the 
pressure  of  a  strong  man  upon  the  other  side,  and, 
suddenly  giving  over  the  attempt,  was  launched 
against  a  shelf  and  dislodged  three  tin  pans,  which 
she  barely  saved  from  falling  with  a  great  clatter 
to  the  floor.  The  silence  —  the  silence  should  ex- 
plain itself;  but  since  humanity  is  afflicted  with 
curiosity,  and  demands  details,  this  is  what  occurred 
immediately  after  Josephine  had  been  kissed  four 
times  for  her  stubbornness,  and  the  pans  had  been 
restored  to  their  proper  place. 


WHAT   FORD   FOUND      277 

"  Say !  Are  you  my  wife  ?  "  was  the  abrupt  ques- 
tion which  Ford  asked,  and  kissed  her  again  while 
he  waited  for  an  answer. 

"Why,  yes  —  what  makes  you  ask  that?  Of 
course  I  am;  that  is  —  "  Josephine  twisted  in  his 
arms,  so  that  she  could  look  into  his  face.  She  did 
not  laugh  at  him,  however.  She  was  staring  at  him 
with  that  keen,  measuring  look  which  had  so  in- 
censed him,  when  he  had  first  met  her.  "  I  don't 
understand  you  at  all,  Ford,"  she  said  at  last,  with 
a  frown  of  puzzlement.  "  I  ne^  cr  have,  for  that 
matter.  I  'd  think  I  was  beginning  to,  and  then  you 
would  say  or  do  something  that  would  put  me  all 
at  sea.     What  do  you  mean,  anyway?" 

Ford  told  her  what  he  meant;  told  her  humbly, 
truthfully,  with  never  an  excuse  for  himself.  And 
it  speaks  well  for  the  good  sense  of  Josephine  that 
she  heard  him  through  with  neither  tears,  laughter, 
nor  anger  to  mar  his  trust  in  her. 

'l  Of  course,  I  knew  you  had  been  drinking,  that 
night,"  she  said,  when  his  story  was  done,  and  his 
face  was  pressed  lightly  against  the  white  parting 


278        THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

in  her  soft,  brown  hair.  "  I  saw  it,  after  —  after 
the  ceremony.  You  —  you  were  going  to  kiss  me, 
and  I  caught  the  odor  of  liquor,  and  I  felt  that  you 
wouldn't  have  done  that  if  you  had  been  yourself; 
it  frightened  me,  a  little.  But  you  talked  perfectly 
straight,  and  I  never  knew  you  weren't  the  man  — 
Frank  Cameron  —  until  you  came  here.  Then  I 
saw  you  could  n't  be  he.  Chester  had  known  you 
when  Frank  was  at  home  with  his  mother  —  I  com- 
pared dates  and  was  sure  of  that  —  and  he  called 
you  Ford  Campbell.  So  then  I  saw  what  a  horrible 
blunder  I  'd  made,  and  I  was  worried  nearly  to 
death !  But  I  could  n't  see  what  I  could  do  about  it, 
and  you  did  n't  —  " 

"  Say,  what  about  this  Frank  Cameron,  anyway  ?  " 
Ford  demanded,  with  true  male  jealousy.  "  What 
did  you  want  to  marry  him  for  ?  You  could  n't  have 
known  him,  or  —  " 

"  Oh,  you  would  n't  understand  —  "  Josephine 
gave  a  little,  impatient  turn  of  the  head,  "  unless  you 
knew  his  mother.  I  did  know  Frank,  a  long  time 
ago,  when  I  was  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  when  I  saw 


WHAT   FORD   FOUND      279 

you,  I  thought  he  'd  changed  a  lot.  But  it  was  his 
mother ;  she  was  the  dearest  thing,  but  —  queer. 
Sort  of  childish,  you  know.  And  she  just  worshiped 
Frank,  and  used  to  watch  for  the  postman  —  oh,  it 
was  too  pitiful !  Sometimes  I  'd  write  a  letter  my- 
self, and  pretend  it  was  from  him,  and  read  it  to 
her;  her  eyes  were  bad,  so  it  was  easy  —  " 

"  Where  was  this  Frank  ?  "  Ford  interrupted. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know!  I  never  did  know.  Some- 
where out  West,  we  thought.  I  used  to  make  believe 
the  letters  came  from  Helena,  or  Butte,  because  that 
was  where  she  heard  from  him  last.  He  was  always 
promising  to  come  home  —  in  the  letters.  That  used 
to  make  her  so  much  better,"  she  explained  na'ively. 
"  And  sometimes  she  'd  be  able  to  go  out  in  the  yard 
and  fuss  with  her  flowers,  after  one  like  that.  But 
he  never  came,  and  so  she  got  the  notion  that  ho 
was  wild  and  a  spendthrift.  I  suppose  he  was,  or 
he  'd  have  written,  or  something.  She  had  lots  and 
lots  of  money  and  property,  you  know. 

"  Well,"  Josephine  took  one  of  Ford's  hand  and 
patted  it  reassuringly,  "  she  got  the  notion  that  I 


280       THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

must  marry  Frank,  when  lie  came  home.  I  tried 
to  reason  her  out  of  that,  and  it  only  made  her  worse. 
It  grew  on  her,  and  I  got  so  I  could  n't  bear  to  write 
any  more  letters,  and  that  made  it  worse  still.  She 
made  a  will  that  I  must  marry  Frank  within  a  year 
after  she  died,  or  he  would  n't  get  anything  but  a 
hundred  dollars  —  and  she  was  worth  thousands  and 
thousands."  Josephine  snuggled  closer.  "  She  was 
shrewd,  too.  I  was  not  to  get  anything  except  a  few 
trinkets.  And  if  we  did  n't  marry,  the  money  would 
all  go  to  an  old  ladies'  home. 

"  So,  when  she  died,  I  felt  as  if  I  ought  to  do  some- 
thing, you  see.  It  did  n't  seem  right  to  let  him  lose 
the  property,  even  if  he  would  n't  write  to  his  mother. 
So  I  had  the  lawyers  try  to  find  him.  I  thought  I 
could  marry  him,  and  let  him  get  the  property,  and 
then  —  well,  I  counted  on  getting  a  divorce."  She 
looked  up  quickly  into  Ford's  face. 

"  And  you  know  you  did  promise  not  to  bother  me 
—  just  to  desert  me,  you  see,  so  I  could  get  a  divorce 
in  a  year.  I  thought  I  'd  come  and  live  with  Kate 
till  the  year  was  up,  and  then  get  a  divorce,  and  go 


WHAT   FORD   FOUND      281 

back  home  to  work.  My  father  left  me  enough  to 
squeak  along  on,  you  see,  if  I  lived  in  the  country. 
Aunt  Ida — that's  Frank's  mother  —  paid  me  a 
salary  for  staying  with  her  and  looking  after  her 
house  and  her  rents  and  things.  And  then,  when 
you  followed  me  out  here,  I  was  furious !  Just 
simply  furious !  "  She  bent  her  head  and  set  her 
teeth  gently  into  the  fleshy  part  of  Ford's  thumb, 
and  Ford  flinched.     It  happened  to  be  the  sore  one. 

"  Well,  but  that  does  n't  explain  how  you  got  your 
loop  on  me,  girlie  —  though  I  sure  am  glad  that  you 
did !  " 

"  Why,  don't  you  see,  the  time  was  almost  up,  just 
for  all  the  world  like  a  play.  '  Only  one  day  more  — ■ 
and  I  must  save  the  pa-apcrs !  '  So  the  lawyer  Aunt 
Ida  had  for  years,  heard  that  Frank  was  —  or  had 
been  —  at  Garbin.  I  rushed  out  here,  and  heard 
that  there  was  a  Cameron  (only  they  must  have 
meant  Campbell)  at  Sunset.  So  I  got  a  license,  and 
the  Reverend  Sanderson,  and  toot  the  evening  train 
down  there.  At  the  hotel  I  asked  for  Mr.  Cameron, 
and  they  sent  you  in.     And  you  know  the  re*t,  you 


282       THE    UPHILL    CLIMB 

—  you  old  fraud !  How  you  palmed  yourself  off  on 
me  —  " 

"  I  never  did !  I  must  have  just  been  in  one  of 
my  obliging  moods;  and  a  man  would  have  to  be 
mighty  rude  and  unkind  not  to  say  yes  to  a  pretty 
girl  when  —  " 

That  is  as  far  as  the  discussion  went,  with  anything 
like  continuity  or  coherence  even.  Later,  however, 
Josephine  did  protest  somewhat  muffledly :  "  But, 
Ford,  I  married  you  under  the  name  of  Frank  Cam- 
eron, so  I  don't  believe  —  and  anyway  —  I  'd  like  a 
real  wedding  —  and  a  ring !  " 

Mrs.  Kate,  having  been  solemnly  assured  by  Rock 
that  Ford  was  sober  and  as  nearly  in  his  right  mind 
as  a  man  violently  in  love  can  bo  (Rock  made  it 
plain,  by  implication  at  least,  that  he  did  not  con- 
sider that  very  near),  ventured  into  the  kitchen  just 
then.  She  still  looked  scared  and  uncertain,  until, 
through  the  half-open  door  of  the  pantry,  she  heard 
soft,  whispery  sounds  like  kissing  —  when  the  kiss- 
ing is  a  rapture  rather  than  a  ceremony.  Mrs.  Kate 
had  only  been  married  eight  years  or  so,  and  she 


WHAT   FORD   FOUND      283 

had  a  good  memory.  She  backed  from  the  kitchen 
on  her  toes,  and  pulled  the  door  shut  with  the  cau- 
tion of  a  thief.  She  did  more ;  she  permitted  dinner 
to  be  an  hour  late,  rather  than  disturb  those  two 
in  the  pantry. 

*  *****  * 

The  uphill  climb  was  no  climb  at  all,  after  that. 
For  when  a  man  has  found  the  one  woman  in  the 
world,  and  with  her  that  elusive  thing  we  call  hap- 
piness, even  the  demon  must  perforce  sheathe  his 
claws  and  retire,  discomfited,  to  the  pit  whence  he 
came. 

There  was  a  period  of  impatient  waiting,  because 
Josephine  and  Mrs.  Kate  both  stoutly  maintained 
that  the  "  real  wedding  "  could  not  take  place  until 
Chester  came  back.  After  that,  there  was  a  Mrs. 
foreman  at  the  Double  Cross  until  spring.  And  after 
that,  there  was  a  new  ranch  and  a  new  house  and 
a  new  home  where  happiness  came  and  dwelt  un- 
hindered. 

THE    END 


STORIES    OF    RARE    CHARM    BY 

GENE  STRATTON-PORTER 


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/J3     f  STRATTON^  Wfa 
|jPORTERJ      LJ 


^ 


THE  HARVESTER 

Illustrated  by  W.  L.  Jacobs 

"The  Harvester,"  David  Langston,  is 
a  man  of  the  woods  and  fields,  who  draws 
his  living  from  the  prodigal  hand  of  Mother 
Nature  herself.  If  the  book  had  nothing  in 
it  but  the  splendid  figure  of  this  man,  wiih 
his  sure  grip  on  life,  his  superb  optimism, 
and  his  almost  miraculous  knowledge  of 
nature  secrets,  it  would  be  notable.  But 
when  the  Girl  comes  to  his  "Medicine 
Woods,"  and  the  Harvester's  whole  sound, 
healthy,  large  outdoor  being  realizes  that 
this  is  the  highest  point  of  life  which  has 
come  to  him — there  begins  a  romance, 
troubled  and  interrupted,  yet  of  the  rarest  idyllic  quality. 

FRECKLES.       Decorations  by  E.  Stetson  Crawford 

Freckles  is  a  nameless  waif  when  the  tale  opens,  but  the  way  in 
which  he  takes  hold  of  life;  the  nature  friendships  he  forms  in  the 
great  Limberlost  Swamp;  the  manner  in  which  everyone  who  meets 
him  succumbs  to  the  charm  of  his  engaging  personality;  and  his  love- 
story  with  "The  Angel"  are  full  of  real  sentiment. 

A  GIRL  OF  THE  LIMBERLOST. 

Illustrated  by  Wladyslaw  T.  Brenda. 

The  story  of  a  girl  of  the  Michigan  woods;  a  buoyant,  lovabie 
type  of  the  self-reliant  American.  Her  philosophy  is  one  of  love  and 
kindness  towards  all  things;  her  hope  is  never  dimmed.  And  by  the 
sheer  beauty  of  her  soul,  and  the  purity  of  her  vision,  she  wins  from 
barren  and  unpromising  surroundings  those  rewards  of  high  courage. 

It  is  an  inspiring  story  of  a  life  worth  while  and  the  rich  beauties 
o»  Che  out-of-doors  are  strewn  through  all  its  pages. 

AT  THE  FOOT  OF  THE  RAINBOW. 

Illustrations  in  colors  by  Oliver  Kemp.    Design  and  decorations  by 
Ralph  Fletcher  Seymour. 

The  scene  of  this  charming,  idyllic  love  story  is  laid  in  Central 
Indiana.  The  story  is  one  of  devoted  friendship,  and  tender  self- 
sacrificing  love;  the  friendship  that  gives  freely  without  return,  and 
the  love  that  seeks  first  the  happiness  of  the  object.  The  novel  is 
brimful  of  the  most  beautiful  word  painting  of  nature,  and  its  pathos 
and  tender  sentiment  will  endear  it  to  all. 


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mix  iiiii  mi  n  iiii 


JOHN  FOX,  JR'S. 

STORIES   OF  THE   KENTUCKY  MOUNTAINS 

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THE  TRAIL   OF  THE    LONESOME  PINE./ 

Illustrated  by  F.  C.  Yohn.f 

The  "lonesome  pine"  from  which  the 
story  takes  its  name  was  a  tall  tree  that 
stood  in  solitary  splendor  on  a  mountain 
top.  The  fame  of  the  pine  lured  a  young 
engineer  through  Kentucky  to  catch  the 
trail,  and  when  he  finally  climbed  to  its 
shelter  he  found  not  only  the  pine  but  the 
foot-prints  of  a  girl.  And  the  girl  proved 
to  be  lovely,  piquant,  and  the  trail  of 
these  girlish  foot-prints  led  the  young 
engineer  a  madder  chase  than  "the  trail 
of  the  lonesome  pine." 

THE     LITTLE    SHEPHERD    OF    KINGDOM    COME 

Illustrated  by  F.  C.  Yohn. 

This  is  a  story  of  Kentucky,  in  a  settlement  known  as  "King- 
dom Come."  It  is  a  life  rude,  semi-barbarous;  but  natural 
and  honest,  from  which  often  springs  the  flower  of  civilization. 

"  Chad."  the  "little  shepherd"  did  not  know  who  he  was  nor 
v/hence  he  came — he  had  just  wandered  from  door  to  door  since 
early  childhood,  seeking  shelter  with  kindly  mountaineers  who 
gladly  fathered  and  mothered  this  waif  about  whom  there  was 
such  a  mystery — a  charming  waif,  by  the  way,  who  could  play 
the  banjo  better  that  anyone  else  in  the  mountains. 

A  KNIGHT  OF  THE    CUMBERLAND.  / 

Illustrated   by  F.  C.  Yohn. 

The  scenes  are  laid  along  the  waters  of  the  Cumberlandi 
the  lair  of  moonshiner  and  f  eudsman.  The  knight  is  a  moon- 
shiner's son,  and  the  heroine  a  beautiful  girl  perversely  chris- 
tened "The  Blight."  Two  impetuous  young  Southerners'  fall 
under  the  spell  of  "The  Blight's  "  charms  and  she  learns  what 
a  large  part  jealousy  and  pistols  have  in  the  love  making  of  the 
mountaineers. 

Included  in  this  volume  is  "  Hell  fer-Sartain"  and  other 
stories,  some  of  Mr.  Fox's  most  entertaining  Cumberland  valley 
narratives. 

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IV, 


xma^ 


>  BY 
MYRTLE  ftEED 


LAVENDER  AND  OLD  LACE. 

A  charming  story  of  a  quaint  corner  of 
New  England  where  bygone  romance  finds  a 
modern  parallel.  The  story  centers  round 
the  coming  of  love  to  the  young  people  on 
the  staff  of  a  newspaper — and  it  is  one  of  the 
prettiest,  sweetest  and  quaintest  of  old  fash- 
ioned love  stories,  *  *  *  a  rare  book,  ex- 
quisite in  spirit  and  conception,  full  of 
delicate  fancy,  of  tenderness,  of  delightful 
humor  and  spontaniety.  j 


A  SPINNER  IN  THE  SUN. 

Miss  Myrtle  Reed  may  always  be  depended  upon  to  write  a  story 
In  which  poetry,  charm,  tenderness  and  humor  are  combined  into  a 
clever  and  entertaining  book.  Her  characters  are  delightful  and  she 
Jways  displays  a  quaint  humor  of  expression  and  a  quiet  feeling  of 
pathos  which  give  a  touch  of  active  realism  to  all  her  writings.  In 
"A  Spinner  in  the  Sun"  she  tells  an  old-fashioned  love  story,  of  a 
veiled  lady  who  lives  in  solitude  and  whose  features  her  neighbors 
have  never  seen.  There  is  a  mystery  at  the  heart  of  the  book  that 
throws  over  it  the  glamour  of  romance. 

THE    MASTER'S    VIOLIN, 


A  love  story  in  a  musical  atmosphere.  A  picturesque,  old  Ger- 
man virtuoso  is  the  reverent  possessor  of  a  genuine  "Cremona."  Ha 
consents  to  take  for  his  pupil  a  handsome  youth  who  proves  to  have 
an  aptitude  for  technique,  but  not  the  soul  of  an  artist.  The  youth, 
has  led  the  happy,  careless  life  of  a  modem,  well-to-do  young  Amer- 
ican  and  he  cannot,  with  his  meagre  past,  express  the  love,  the  passion 
and  the  tragedies  of  life  and  all  its  happy  phases  as  can  the  master 
who  has  lived  life  in  all  its  fulness.  But  a  girl  comes  into  his  life — a 
beautiful  bit  of  human  driftwood  that  his  aunt  had  taken  into  her 
heart  and  home,  and  through  his  passionate  love  for  her,  he  learns 
the  lessons  that  life  has  to  give — and  his  soul  awakes. 

Founded  on  a  fact  that  all  artists  realize. 

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WITHIN  THE  LAV/.     By  Bayard  Veiller  &  Marvin  Dana. 
Illustrated  by  Wro.  Charles  Cooke.      Up* 

This  is  a  novelization  of  the  immensely  successful  play  which  ran 
for  two  years  in  New  York  and  Chicago. 

The  plot  of  this  powerful  novel  is  of  a  young  woman's  revenge 
directed  against  her  employer  who  allowed  her  to  be  sent  to  prison 
for  three  years  on  a  charge  of  theft,  of  which  she  was  innocent. 

WHAT  HAPPENED  TO  MARY.     By  Robert  Carlton  Brown. 
illustrated  with  scenes  from  the  play. 

This  is  a  narrative  of  a  young  and  innocent  country  girl  who  is 
suddenly  thrown  into  the  very  heart  of  New  York,  "the  land  of  her 
dreams,"  where  she  is  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  temptations  and  dangers. 

Tho  story  of  Mary  is  being  told  in  moving  pictures  and  played  in 
theatres  all  over  the  world. 

THE  RETURN  OF  PETER  GRIMM.      By  David  Belasco. 
Illustrated  by  John  Rae, 

This  is  a  novelization  of  the  popular  play  in  which  David  War, 
field,  as  Old  Peter  Grimm,  scored  such  a  remarkable  success. 

The  story  is  spectacular  and  extremely  pathetic  but  withal, 
powerful,  both  as  a  book  and  as  a  play. 

THE  GARDEN  OF  ALLAH.    By  Robert  Hichens.? 

This  novel  is  an  intense,  glowing  epic  of  the  great  desert,  sunlit 
barbaric,  with  its  marvelous  atmosphere  of  vastness  and  loneliness. 

It  is  a  book  of  rapturous  beauty,  vivid  in  word  painting.    The  play 
has  been  staged  with  magnificent  cast  and  gorgeous  properties. 
BEN    HUR.    A  Tale  of  the  Christ.    By  General  Lew  Wallace. 

The  whole  world  has  placed  this  famous  Religious-Historical  Ro- 
mance on  a  height  of  pre-eminence  which  no  other  novel  of  its  time 
has  reached.  The  clashing  of  rivalry  and  the  deepest  human  passions, 
the  perfect  reproduction  of  brilliant  Roman  life,  and  the  tense,  fierce 
atmosphere  of  the  arena  have  kept  their  deep  fascination.  A  tre° 
mendous  dramatic  success. 

BOUGHT  AlSiD  PAID  FOR.     By  George  Broadhurst  and  Arthur 
tlomblow.  Illustrated  with  scenes  from  the  play. 

A  stupendous  arraignment  of  modern  marriage  which  has  created 

an  interest  on  the  stage  that  is  almost  unparalleled.  The  scenes  are  laid 

in  New  Yoik,  and  deal  with  conditions  among  both  the  rich  and  poor. 

^The  interest  of  the  story  turns  on  the  day-by-day  developments 

which  show  the  young  wife  the  price  she  has  paicl. 

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DRAMATIZED  NOVELS 

a —         ■—  .'.  ■         '  -g 

Original,  sincere  and  courageous — often  amusing — the 
kind  that  are  making  theatrical  history. 

:  ■* 

MADAME  X.    By  Alexandre  Bisson  and  J.  W.  McCon- 
aughy.     Illustrated   with    scenes   from    the   play, 

A  beautiful  Parisienne  became  an  outcast  because  her  hus- 
band would  not  forgive  an  error  of  her  youth.  Her  love  fot 
her  son  is  the  great  final  influence  in  her  career.  A  tremens 
dous  dramatic  success. 

THE  GARDEN  OF  ALLAH.    By  Robert  Hichensv 

An  unconventional  English  woman  and  an  inscrutable 
Stranger  meet  and  love  in  an  oasis  of  the  Sahara.  Staged 
this  season  with  magnificent  cast  and  gorgeous  properties. 

THE  PRINCE  OF  INDIA.    By  Lew.  Wallace. 

A  glowing  romance  of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  presenting 
with  extraordinary  power  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  ana 
lighting  its  tragedy  with  the  warm  underglow  of  an  Oriental 
romance.    As  a  play  it  is  a  great  dramatic  spectacle. 

TESS  OF  THE  STORM  COUNTRY.  By  Grace 
Miller  White.  Illust.  by  Howard  Chandler  Christy, 
A  girl  from  the  dregs  of  society,  loves  a  young  Cornell  Unl* 
versity  student,  and  it  works  startling  changes  in  her  life  and 
the  lives  of  those  about  her.  The  dramatic  version  is  one  of 
the  sensations  of  the  season. 

YOUNG    WALLINGFORD.     By  George   Randolph 
Chester.    Illust.  by  F.  R.  Gruger  and  Henry  Raleigh,, 

A  series  of  clever  swindles  conducted  by  a  cheerful  young 
man,  each  of  which  is  just  on  the  safe  side  of  a  State's  prison 
offence.  As  "Get-Rich-Quick  Wallingford,"  it  is  probably 
the  most  amusing  expose  of  money  manipulation  ever  seen 
©n  the  stage. 

THE  INTRUSION  OF  JIMMY,    By  P.  G.  Wodo 

house.    Illustrations  by  Will  Grefe. 

Social  and  club  life  in  London  and  New  York,  an  amateui 
burglary  adventure  and  a  love  story.  Dramatized  under  the 
title  of  "A  Gentleman  of  Leisure,"  it  furnishes  hours  of 
laughter  to  the  play-goers. 

"*■— -  ■  -  —- .  —  ^ -  —   .    ■  ...         ■    .      i.i -    ..      .    ■  —  —  ■  ^ 

'^  ■  _—--,—    ,        .        .  ,-  ..  ,,—■-,-,,  -.1  ,  M^ 

Grosset  &  Dunlap,  526  West  26th  St.,  New  York 


STORIES    OF        ESTERN    LIFE 

May  be  had  wherever  books  are  sold.      Ask  for  Grosset  &  Dunlap's  list 


RIDERS  OF  THE  PURPLE  SAGE,    By  Zane  Grey. 
Illustrated  by  Douglas  Duer. 

In  this  picturesque  romance  of  Utah  of  some  forty  years  ago,  we 
are  permitted  to  see  the  unscrupulous  methods  employed  by  the  in- 
visible hand  of  the  Mormon  Church  to  break  the  will  of  those  refus- 
ing to  conform  to  its  rule. 

FRIAR  TUCK,    By  Robert  Alexander  Wason. 

Illustrated  by  Stanley  L.  Wood. 

Happy  Hawkins  tells  us,  in  his  humorous  way,  how  Friar  Tuck 
lived  among  the  Cowboys,  how  he  adjusted  their  quarrels  and  love 
affairs  and  how  he  fought  with  them  and  for  them  when  occasion 
required. 

THE    SKY  PILOT,    By  Ralph    Connor. 

Illustrated  by  Louis  Rhead. 

There  is  no  novel,  dealing  with  the  rough  existence  of  cowboys, 
so  charming  in  the  telling,  abounding  as  it  does  with  the  freshest  and 
the  truest  pathos. 

THE  EMIGRANT  TRAIL,    By  Geraldine  Bonner. 

Colored  frontispiece  by  John  Rae. 

The  book  relates  the  adventures  of  a  party  on  its  overland  pil- 
grimage, and  the  birth  and  growth  of  the  absorbing  love  of  two  strong 
men  for  a  charming  heroine. 

THE  BOSS  OF  WIND  RIVER,    By  A.  M.  Chisholm. 

Illustrated  by  Frank  Tenney  Johnson. 

This  is  a  strong,  virile  novel  with  the  lumber  industry  for  its  cen» 
tral  theme  and  a  love  story  full  of  interest  as  a  sort  of  suoplot. 

A  PRAIRIE  COURTSHIP,    By  Harold  Bindloss. 

A  story  of  Canadian  prairies  in  which  the  hero  is  stirred,  through 
the  influence  of  his  love  for  a  woman,  to  settle  down  to  the  heroic 
business  of  pioneer  farming. 

JOYCE  OF  THE  NORTH  WOODS,    By  Harriet  T.  Comstock. 

Illustrated  by  John  CasseL 

A  story  of  the  deep  woods  that  shows  the  power  of  love  at  work 
among  its  primitive  dwellers.    It  is  a  tensely  moving  study  of  the  j 
human  heart  and  its  aspirations  that  unfolds  itself  through  thrilling 
situations  and  dramatic  developments. 

Ash  for  a  complete  free  list  of  G.  &  D.  Popular  Copyrighted  Fiction 

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